Thicker Than Water
by Tauna Petit-Strawn
Summary: An alternate way that Heath joins the family. Sorry, I'm still lousy at summaries. Rated T to be safe. Genre always subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

**Thicker Than Water **

A/N I had an online friend ask me if I would write a story with Heath coming to the family under different circumstances etc. I told her I'd roll the idea around and, if it came on its own as I refused to force it to, she'd get her story. This was the result. Please, keep in mind that because I'm changing the way he joins the family other things will facts will also change. (No train race etc)

**Chapter One **

The sounds of pots and pans being hit with lids rang through the small two bedroom home that sat on the edge of Modesto. Seeing how two four year olds were using the cooking pots and their lids as musical instruments, it might have been funny and cute only there was one problem. Their widowed father was asleep- was being the key word.

"What the…." Heath Thompson sat up and swung his legs off the bed. It took him a minute to realize what the noise he heard was. Throwing on his pants, he walked out of his bedroom and into the front room. From there he could see his son, Bryon, and his daughter, Leah, on the floor of the kitchen which lay adjacent to the front room, playing with more than one pot and its lid. The moment the twins saw their father standing in the front room they dropped the pots and pans and ran to him.

Heath couldn't help but grin as he scooped a child up in each arm. "Boy Howdy! You sure know how to get a body out of bed, don't you?" The question only served to get Bryon giggling and Leah shaking her head.

"We're makin' music for you." Leah said as Heath set her and her brother down at the table.

"Like Mr. Jennings and his family done last night." Bryon spoke up, still remembering the social the town had had the night before; the one his father had taken him and his sister too.

Heath wasn't sure he would call the racket his children had been making music, but the sentiment was cute. If he could have he would given them the pots, pans and their lids back. As it was, he not only had work to do, but he'd promised his boss he'd go to the local horse auction. That being the case, he had to get them fed and dressed before Jenny Lee, the children's fourteen year old babysitter, showed up. Normally, he'd take his son and daughter along and not worry about a babysitter. The two youngsters loved horses, but he couldn't today, not with all the work he had to get done.

Heath began helping his children put what pot and pans they didn't need that morning back where they belonged. He then began cooking breakfast while Bryon and Leah took turns climbing on a chair to get the plates and other things they'd need to set the table with. It was something they themselves had asked if they could do and, after a lot of begging, Heath had lowered the shelves in order to make it easier for them to do just that. It was scenes like this, his young children setting the table, that had Heath sighing silently. While he'd come to terms with his wife's death; it was moments like this he missed her the most. If only his in-laws hadn't moved so far away after he and Elizabeth had married. His mother in law might have helped. As it was, there was no way on this earth he was taking his children and move clear back to Wisconsin to live. No, he shook his head ever so slightly as he kept one eye on the bacon and the other on his children. When it came to family and help with the children, he, Bryon and Leah would just have to make the best from whatever life handed them.

**~oOo~**

The sun shone through Modesto's boarding house windows, one window belonged to the room Nick and Jarrod Barkley were staying in for a couple of days. The piercing light might as well made the same noise as the pots and pans in the Thompson home had, as Nick grabbed his pillow, rolled over and covered his head. He wasn't ready to get up; probably due to the whiskey he'd drank the night before.

On the other hand, Jarrod sat up as he forced his eyes to open. He stretched and let out a slight groan. It took a few moments, but soon he was awake enough to start dressing. As he dressed, he started whistling, knowing how it irritated Nick. He figured his hot tempered brother would listen to the whistling for no more than two minutes before shooting straight up into the air and asking, no demanding, that Jarrod stop such activities until he, Nick, was fully awake. He was close; Nick made it to a minute and a half before he snapped from underneath the pillow. "Ain't ya got somethin' better to do?"

Jarrod grinned from ear to ear and quit whistling long enough to remind his dear brother that he, Nick, had lost the card game the night before and owed him a nice breakfast at the café. He wasn't surprised when Nick sat up, swung his legs over the edge of the bed and griped. "You never said we'd be eating breakfast before my hangover was through."

"I told you should save your drinking until after our business was done." Jarrod retorted as he finished dressing and headed downstairs.

Nick dressed as quickly as his head would allow. He hated it when Jarrod was right. Soon he and Jarrod were both sitting in the café talking.

"You didn't have to come. Gideon could have traveled to Stockton to talk to you instead." Nick looked at Jarrod, who sat across the table from him. The two brothers had traveled from Stockton to Modesto on business, they were going to go to the horse auction and, then later, Jarrod would visit with a family friend, Gideon Stokes, about a small piece of land the family wanted to buy, land that was adjacent to the ranch already. Well, that or at least the man's foreman.

Jarrod smiled and shrugged his shoulders. What Nick said was true enough, but Jarrod hadn't felt like arguing with Gideon Stokes over at the time arrangements had been made for the meeting. "He couldn't have, but he didn't." He just hoped that he could get away from Gideon without having to visit him for hours on end after discussing business. As much as he liked Mr. Stokes, Jarrod was sure the man could talk worse than a group of politicians at a state convention, or any other convention for that matter. Of course, he wasn't about to say such a thing out loud. If he did a thing like that then, most likely, Gideon would hear about it. Jarrod didn't think anyone needed that to happen. The two brothers continued talking about their plans for the day. Once they were done, the two brothers headed for the auction.


	2. First Meeting

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Two**

There was more noise around the corral where the auction was going to be held than Heath really cared for, but business was business. He had to keep an eye on the horses Mr. Stokes had for sale until someone actually bought them and then head over to the building that served as a city office and occasional meeting place for those with legal business. Then, as Mr. Stokes foreman, he'd have to deal with giving all the information his boss would need when it came to the land the man was considering selling.

"Good morning, Mr. Thomson!"

Heath turned and threw ten year old Samuel Jackson a crooked smile. As much as he liked the lad, Heath was glad he wasn't his. The black haired lad had more energy than Heath's twins put together! He felt sorry for Mrs. Jackson. He couldn't help but wonder how she kept up with the lad. His mind was taken off the young boy and into his own childhood memories when he stepped inside the stable that housed the horses that would be up for auction that day.

Twenty-five year old Heath loved stables and anything else connected to horses. He'd spent as much time as he could around horses growing up, which in all honesty hadn't been much time. In an effort to help his mother bring an income into the house, he'd worked in the mines at an extremely young age, and then, due to money again, he'd lied about his age and joined the Union Army. Things had went well enough…until he'd been captured.

Heath began brushing one of the horses and frowned slightly. The mines and the war both had been events that might have been avoided had he had his father in his life. But he was a bastard and no one but his mother, "Aunt" Rachel and Hannah had cared; really cared about him. Of course, his frown turned to a crooked grin as he thought on 'how his luck had changed' the day Elizabeth Miller had moved with her family from Wisconsin to Strawberry.

The petite brunette haired girl with the impish grin and dimples had looked past the label put upon him and loved him for who he was, even if her parents had thrown a fit at first. Over time, his in-laws got to know him and his mother better and had enough of a change of heart to make it so he and Elizabeth did not have to elope the day they decided to get married. He'd provided for her, and then the children when they came, by continuing to work in the mines but jumped at the first chance he got to work on a small ranch near Strawberry.

Heath might still be in Strawberry, but he'd met Mr. Stokes the year before and accepted a job on his ranch because with both his mother and wife passing away there was nothing to tie him to Strawberry… and the change meant pay that would enable him to care for his children better.

"Whoa boy," Heath was brought out of his thoughts, as the horse startled. Cole Hilman, a local stable hand, was barking at someone just outside the building. If it was anyone but Cole, Heath would have ignored the situation. As it was, he made sure the horse was fine and then hurried out of the stable to see what was going on.

Cole, who had stopped Jarrod and Nick as they headed for the stable, turned when he heard the door open behind him. One look at the blond haired cowboy and the steel like look in his eyes had the young man looking as if he wanted to find a cave to hide in. As far as Heath went, he wasn't surprised to see Cole harassing strangers; he'd done that since the day Hilman had moved to Modesto two months ago.

"What's goin' on? You're spookin' the horses." Heath rested one hand on his hip while the other one hung loosely by his side, the side with his gun on it. He didn't want a fight, but he'd also learned a lot about this young man in the short time he'd been around; the lad's temper was high and his brains low. A combination like that always wound up spelling trouble sooner or later. With two children who needed their father, Heath wasn't about to be caught off guard by anyone if he could help it.

Before Cole had a chance to excuse his behavior Nick spoke up. "Since we got here a bit earlier than we expected, my brother and I just thought we'd take a quick look at the horses. We _weren't_," Nick glared at Cole before looking back towards the man who had interrupted 'the kid's' tirade, "going to do anything to them, or steal them!"

It was all Heath could do not to slap Cole upside his head. Did the lad really think anyone who meant to steal horses would do it in a place like this? Especially with all the men that had started to show up? "Come on inside," Heath turned and opened the door to the stable once more, "Auction don't start for another thirty minutes."

Nick and Jarrod followed Heath inside the stable while Cole was left to go bother someone else. Once inside, Nick began looking over the horses. On the other hand, Jarrod couldn't help but keep his eyes on Heath, who walked away from the brothers as he did other things. Jarrod couldn't help it; there seemed to be an invisible force telling him there was something familiar about the gentleman. Because Jarrod couldn't place Heath from anywhere, his curiosity was piqued.

"What do you think?"

Jarrod snapped out of his thoughts when he realized Nick was looking at him waiting for an answer. Only problem was, Jarrod didn't know the question. The embarrassment he felt at being caught not listening could be seen in the 'oops I've been caught' look that came onto his face, as Nick shook his head.

"Where have you been?" Nick asked as he tapped the side of his own head as he looked at Jarrod and asked the question.

"Sorry, Nick. What were you saying?" Jarrod asked, and then forced himself to listen as his brother talked about which horses they should bid on, though in the end it was Nick who made the final decision. After all, like Jarrod pointed out, his main purpose in coming to Modesto was to be the main negotiator on the land they wanted to buy. The two brothers then walked out the stable doors.

Heath, who had been in another part of the stable while the two brothers talked, watched from the far side of the stable as the men left and wondered at the feeling of familiarity he himself had come over him. Only then did he realize neither the men nor he had introduced themselves to each other. How on earth had that happened? While he wondered about it, Heath didn't dwell on it either; he had to things to get done himself.


	3. Second Meeting and Dinner

Thicker Than Water

Chapter Three

"Thought you were going to play poker and grab a drink." Jarrod, who was sitting in the city office waiting for either Mr. Scott or the man's foreman, said as Nick opened the door and shut it behind him.

Nick looked around the room. Modesto's city office housed only two rooms, an office and the main meeting area. Benches sat in front of the other until they stopped, maybe, five feet from the table Jarrod sat behind. Nick walked up to the table, took his hat off and sat down off to the left of his older brother. "I was going to but," he looked closely at his brother, "you've been more than quiet ever sense we left the stables this morning. You didn't even argue with how much I wound up paying for the horses we bought." He'd seen Jarrod's raised eyebrow during the bidding and figured the man would step in and say something only he hadn't. It had bothered Nick enough to make it so he just had to find out what was up with his big brother.

Jarrod tapped the top of the table a few times before he answered. "Just trying to figure out if I should know that fellow that helped us out this morning," The fact that he continued to get strong impressions that he should had bothered Jarrod all morning.

Nick frowned. "Is that good or bad? I mean, the fact that you think you should know him?" Though, if Nick was to be honest, he'd been having the same feelings ever since he'd laid eyes on the man who had led the horses around in the corral during the auctions.

"I don't feel anything bad when it comes to him," Jarrod answered as he leaned back in the chair and looked at the clock, wondering where their friend or foreman was, "just can't shake the feeling that he's familiar in some way." he stopped talking as the door opened up. Both he and Nick felt shock waves go through them and they glanced at each other as the same young man who had helped them out that morning walked through the door.

Heath was just as surprised as Nick and Jarrod, though his face did not show his it. He'd spent far too many years hiding how he felt as a way to protect himself to let it show now, though he couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he thought _'Boy howdy! Ain't it a small world!'_ "Jarrod Barkley?" He asked as he looked from Jarrod to Nick and then back to Jarrod and then stopped a few feet away from where the two men were sitting.

"I'm Jarrod Barkly," Jarrod stood up and held out his hand, "This," he nodded towards Nick, who had also arisen, "is my brother, Nick Barkley."

Heath shook Jarrod's hand and then Nick's. "Name's Heath, Heath Thomson, Mr. Stokes sent me. He apologizes," Heath said as he pulled a chair over to the table and sat down, "only he's a bit under the weather. He asked me to come and talk to you." The fact that Mr. Stokes had been 'a bit under the weather' for some time wasn't something Heath felt free to discuss. In his eyes, that sort of discussion needed to be started by Mr. Stokes himself, or his family, if it was started at all.

The next thirty minutes was spent talking about Nick and Jarrod's interest in the property Mr. Stokes owned, but wasn't using, along with the price the Barkley's were willing to pay for it. As the discussion drew close to being over, Heath began to gather up the copies of the various legal documents his boss needed to look over and see if he agreed with the few changes Jarrod wanted to make before they bought the land from Mr. Stokes. "I'll make sure Mr. Stokes gets these papers." Heath told them as he stood up. Then, because he hated the idea of the Barkley's eating at the café or at the boarding house, Heath invited them to his house. "I'm no gourmet cook." He smiled as he finished making the offer. "Still, I ain't killed anyone yet."

Since Heath had offered to cook them supper, Nick and Jarrod assumed he was single like them. That being the case, they figured he was all alone in the house and wanted company for a few hours.

"Thank you." Jarrod smiled as he accepted the invitation, as did Nick. Soon the three were on their horses and heading down the main street of Modesto.

"I should warn ya," Heath spoke up after a few minutes, "while Bryon is shy around visitors at first, Leah will be all over you. She's never had a shy bone in her since the day she was born."

Bryon? Leah? Jarrod and Nick looked at each other. Heath had offered to cook them supper which meant he didn't have a wife. If that was the case, was he a widower? Was he talking about children or what? They both wanted to know, but dare they ask? Before either had time to decide, they found themselves in front of Heath's home. The moment, they and their host dismounted their horses, Jarrod and Nick had their silent questions answered.

"Papa!" Leah screamed as Jenny opened the door. Seconds later she had ran down the steps and flew up into her father's arms. She then looked at Nick and Jarrod. "More friends, papa?" the child tilted her head and looked at her father. She was so cute; Heath couldn't help but smile, as did Jarrod and Nick.

"You could say that." Heath turned to face Jarrod and Nick. "This is my daughter, Leah. That," he said as he turned and looked at Bryon, who had come out onto the front porch and was standing next to Jenny, "Is my son, Bryon." He then headed up the steps speaking to Jenny as he did so. "Thanks for watching the children. Come back inside and I'll pay you." Jenny did as he asked, but left the moment she had her money, but not before shocking him when she asked if he'd heard the news about Cole.

"What news?" Heath asked not sure if he wanted to know or not.

"He got caught cheating in a card game with a stranger and, when the stranger called him on it, he went for his gun. They say he never cleared leather before the other man shot him." Jenny told him as she walked out the door.

Heath was shocked, but not surprised. Young men like Cole seldom lasted long. He turned his attention to his guests as Jarrod spoke up.

"You have beautiful children." Jarrod asked as he looked around the front room. Nick voiced the same opinion as Leah climbed up on his lap and started playing with the raw ride that held his leather vest together.

At four years old, Leah was still learning various terms such as jacket, coat, vest, etcetera; that being the case, she looked up at Nick and asked, "Why do you have shoe lace on your jacket?"

Nick smiled and answered, "It does look like shoe lace doesn't it?" He went on to explain what it was, the fact that his father had given it to him and why. Well, he did his best to give the child a picture she could understand.

"Where's your papa?" she asked after Nick was done speaking. Because she was so young, she didn't catch the small, but quick, appearance of pain that shot through Nick's eyes. Heath did not.

"Leah!" Heath did not yell, but he did speak loud enough to make sure she knew he meant business. "You don't need to bother the man."

When the child frowned and started to get down, Nick quickly stopped her. "She's fine." Nick smiled at the young child and then looked at Heath. "She's not botherin' me." She wasn't either. He was amused by the attention the small child was giving him. Most of the time, he seemed to scare young children away even though he meant no harm.

"Have it your way." Heath told him as he stepped into the kitchen and began gathering what he'd need to fix supper.

Jarrod and Nick watched as Bryon hurried into the kitchen and began climbing onto the chair to get the plates they'd need. Nick and Jarrod couldn't help but smile as Leah flew off Nick's lap and hurried to join her brother, grabbing two more plates with Heath's promptings. After the table was set Bryon stuck close to his father while Heath continued cooking, and Leah found her way back to Nick.


	4. A Promise

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Four**

Jarrod and Nick had planned on leaving Modesto that morning and heading home, only they found themselves standing in Gideon Stokes bedroom instead. Instead of improving, the man's health was rapidly declining. He'd sent Heath into town that morning to ask the two brothers, if they'd please come out to the house and talk to him. The black haired, brown eyed Mrs. Stokes sat at her husband's bedside. Only when Heath had stepped out of the room and shut the door behind him, due to having to get back to work, did their friend speak.

"Thanks for coming." He smiled at his good friends, silently praying he had not read them wrong or he'd be wasting everyone's time.

Jarrod and Nick smiled the best they could. As far as they could see they were going to lose their friend. In the back of their mind, they couldn't help but wonder about the land too, though that seem so unimportant at the moment and was easy to push it out of their thoughts. "No problem," Jarrod said as he turned his hat around in his hands.

Gideon pointed to a nearby table that had a huge envelope laying on it. The Barkley's guessed that it was the papers Mr. Thomson had taken away from the meeting and was proven correct when Mr. Stokes said, "Anything I need to sign has been signed only," he said as he paused glancing toward the window and thought on the best foreman he'd ever had and the responsibility that had fallen on the young man's shoulders the day Mrs. Thomson had passed away, "I don't want your money for the land. You can have it if you'll do something for me."

Jarrod and Nick's face showed their shock. It was quite a bit of land they wanted to buy off their friend. What on earth could they do that would justify just handing the land over to them? Jarrod took a cautious step towards Gideon and asked, "Just what would that be?"

"If Heath ever needs a job, promise me you'll hire him." He then went on to explain his concerns when it came to his foreman. "Many people hold the fact that he's a bastard against him and have made life hard on him, my son being one of those people. I fear Jack might let him go the day I die. He wasn't exactly thrilled when I made Mr. Thomson foreman and insisted that he handle a lot of my business." Fire filled his eyes as he spoke and he doubled up his fist, an action that had his wife leaning over and trying to get him to calm down. "It's not Heath's fault his parents did what they did." Gideon, who refused to acknowledge he needed to relax, kept his eyes on Jarrod and Nick. "Heath is a quiet man; still, I've been able to get past that wall of his and get to know more than most people." He chuckled, "I might not know all his secrets, but he and I have had many talks when it comes to his upbringing in Strawberry. The stories I could tell you," the man grew quiet and shook his head, "but I can't. I promised him never to repeat them. All I can say is his mother was a good woman who was left with quite the load to carry the day his father walked away, and he had to grow up way too fast." Truth was Gideon would have left the ranch to Heath and not bothered with getting a promise from the Barkley's only his son and he had finally made a truce with each other and Gideon didn't want to endanger it.

"What kind of man walks away from his own child?" Nick couldn't help but ask briskly.

Gideon looked at Nick as if to silently reprimand him and answered, "I don't know if he knew about Heath or not. That's one topic Heath has never talked to me about. Without all the facts, I don't think you should judge the man either." He then turned his eyes back Jarrod. "I'm not going to get any better, don't matter what anyone wants to think. That young man is an honest man, a hard worker and he has two young children to provide for. Besides all that, I love him as if he were my own son. His well being means more to me than any amount of money I might get from you."

Jarrod knew Gideon well enough to know it took a lot for a man to earn that kind of respect and devotion from him. That, along with what he'd seen in the Thomson home, made it so he readily agreed. "I'm okay with it only Nick is the one who does the hiring not me." Jarrod looked at Nick as he answered Gideon. His eyes asked what his mouth did not. _'Are you going to hold Heath's illegitimate birth against him also?'  
_  
Nick smiled as he remembered the good meal Heath had cooked and how fascinated four year old Leah had been with his vest and rawhide, and how she'd talked up a storm while he and Jarrod were at the Thomson home. "I'll take him on, if he needs it."

Mr. Stokes relaxed and closed his eyes. "Take the papers. Like I said, I've already signed them."

Seeing her husband fall asleep, Mrs. Stokes stood up and led the Barkley's out of the bedroom and into the living room. While she agreed with her husband, and was grateful the Barkley's had made the promise they did, she also wanted to have her say also. "If you ever find Heath working for you, you'd do good to remember everything my husband's told you about him. Heath is a good man; he's a patient man and a quiet man, but he can be pushed too far. If that happens, he will plant his feet and fight back. Also," she said as she began chuckling, "You might want to be careful if you ever play a game of poker with him. I've heard it told he's quite the player, though he never gets so caught up in the game as to lose track of the time. I know because anyone who's ever watched his youngin's can tell you how devoted he is to them."

Thinking on the fears Mr. Stokes had mentioned, Nick asked. "If he's a man like that, is there really a chance Jack would let him go?" Men with the description Mrs. Stokes was giving were ones bosses held onto if they could. Even Jack couldn't be that stupid, could he?

Mrs. Stokes shook her head and sighed. "Maybe not the day after my husband passes away, if he does, only it will happen. Jack lost his brains when he turned sixteen and never got them back." She knew it wasn't nice of her to say when it came to her own son, only it was the truth. Jack did not use the brains he had. If he did, her husband never would have had to pull Heath into acting on his, Gideon's, behalf when it came to business deals. Personally, she feared her son would drive the ranch into the ground the day it fell into his hands.

After a few more minutes of visiting, Nick and Jarrod mounted their horses and rode away. Because they rode in the opposite direction than the one Heath was working in, they didn't see the blond haired cowboy watching them, nor did they see the questioning look that came into his eyes before he went back to work.


	5. Supper Visit, Memories and A Promise

Thicker Than Water

Chapter Five

Victoria and Audra, who had been sitting in the living room visiting with Eugene and his wife, Marianne, before the two left Stockton to go home, now sat around the table eating supper and visiting with Jarrod and Nick. The two brothers had arrived home from Modesto just that afternoon. For whatever reason that existed, the two brothers found themselves talking about Heath Thomson and his two young children.

"Folks down there say he lost his wife when the children were around one." Jarrod said as he finished his supper.

Audra, who was remembering how she and Gene had turned to Jarrod after her father had died, along with all the stunts she and her youngest brother had pulled, felt her heart go out to the stranger she'd never met. "He has no family to help him?" She looked at both of her brothers.

"Not from what we've been told." Nick answered as he recalled the few visits they'd had with some of the residents of Modesto. "The Stokes said that there was no way Gideon would've been able to lure him away from Strawberry if his mother was still alive. It seems like she was in love with Strawberry even if it was a dying town. From what Mrs. Stokes said, the man does have an aunt and uncle in Strawberry, though he's not on speaking terms with them."

Because her two oldest sons were caught up in talking about the foreman they'd met, and Audra was just as lost in listening to the story, none of them saw the troubled looked that passed through Victoria's eyes as she listened. The troubled feeling she had only grew when Nick started talking about Heath's daughter.

"She's the cutest little thing you ever saw." The dark haired rancher leaned back in his chair and ran his fingers over the rawhide that was attached to his vest. "Sat on my lap for at least thirty, if not forty-five, minutes just playing with this thing and talking. Should say talking and asking questions, I never met such an inquisitive child."

"I have." Jarrod smiled as his eyes laughed and he winked at Audra, who gave him a playful swat on the arm only to be reprimanded by her mother for doing so at the table.

"What did you say her name was?" Victoria looked at her sons after she'd finished getting after her daughter.

"Leah," Nick answered as he continued recalling the image of the child who had insisted on staying by him until he had no choice but leave, "his daughter's name is Leah and his son's name is Bryon. Like we said, Leah's quite the social butterfly; Bryon, on the other hand, is extremely quiet like his father." He then went back to telling the story.

Victoria stood up and excused herself. As she was through with her supper and had had a long day, her children thought nothing about her early departure. And as much as she enjoyed her children, this was one time Victoria was grateful that Jarrod and Nick were both too caught up in telling the story of their travels to Modesto to notice any troubled look in her eyes. Soon she was standing alone on the verandah with only memories to keep her company as she looked up at the darkened sky with a thousand little lights staring back down at her. Her mind wandered back through time.

_"I can't bring them back!" Tom whirled around, tears streamed down his face. "Neither one of us can!" He was standing in the living room with Victoria. Both had been raising their voices at each other and fighting, until Tom realized what the fight was really about…keeping their minds off their lost children, twin boys. "I wish I could," he said as he lowered his voice and turned away from Victoria, "I'm going to check on our mine in Strawberry." _

Victoria hugged herself as she remembered how he'd packed up and left within half hour of their emotional discourse. He hadn't returned for a solid four months. When he came back, the two of them had sat down and talked about the loss of the twins and how badly they'd both handled it. Tom had also made a shocking confession.

_Tom sat on the living room couch with his head in his hands, tears running down his face. "I...I don't deserve you, Victoria. I love you; you mean the world to me, and I don't deserve you."_

_"What on earth are you talking about?" Victoria, who sat next to her husband, took a hold of his hands and pulled them downwards. She then insisted he look up her. She was shocked by the look of pure torment that was in his eyes. What on earth had he…she never finished her train of thought as she knew; somehow, she knew what he'd done. Shock rolled over her as she let go of his hands, stood up and walked over to the window._

_A part of her was furious at him, another part wondered if the two of them weren't equally as guilty. A part of her didn't want to hear another word, another part insisted on it. "You've been in Strawberry this whole time?"_

_Tom stood up slowly and made his way to his wife's side. "Yes, but only a small part of it was spent actually __in__ Strawberry. A portion, the larger part, was spent on the outskirts of Strawberry. I was attacked and badly wounded." He wasn't surprised when she gasped, but hurried to continued, "A laundress by the name of Leah found me and helped me. I…" Tom shook his head and sighed, "I never told her I was married, told her I couldn't remember my last name. She gave me the last name of Thomson. I'm sorry, Victoria, really I am. Like I said, I don't deserve you. Only I beg you let me earn your trust back. I love you and the boys. I don't want to lose any of you." His voice cracked and she could hear the sincerity in his voice._

Victoria leaned against the trellis and let the soft breeze blow over her face. She hadn't thought about it at the time, only now she wondered why she and Tom hadn't thought to check to see if a child had been conceived. Then again, maybe she didn't. In order to move on, they'd agreed to never speak of Strawberry and Tom's transgression again. Looking into the possibility of a child would have meant dealing with the issue all over again. However, now she looked up at the stars and whispered, "If his last name and if his daughter's name is just a coincidence so be it. Only Tom," she choked up as she spoke, "If he's yours, bring him and those children home. I promise I won't run him off by saying anything to him. I don't know how I'll bite my tongue; you know how I am. Still, I promise. I won't say a word! Just, please bring him back where he should have been from the beginning, and I'll give him plenty of time to get comfortable with us before I ever even come close to broaching the subject." She said nothing more as she simply enjoyed the breeze blowing across her face.


	6. Moving

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Six**

Heath stood next to his bed which had been stripped of its bedding looking at the only picture he had of himself and his late wife, Elizabeth. He sighed as he put it inside the box which held what little clothing he had, along with his journal, and shut the top. He then carried the box out of the room and out the front door. His children were playing over to the side of the house with Jenny, who had been kind enough to agree to watch the children while her parents helped him pack.

"It's not right the way Jack let you go." Mr. Lee didn't hesitate to say his piece as he slid a box into the back of the wagon. Gideon Stokes had died the month before and, sure enough, Heath had been told within two weeks he no longer had a job on the Stokes' ranch. Heath was surprised the man had had the decency to give him a few weeks to get out. Then again, Jack's mother probably had a lot to do with that one. "I wish there was some way I could keep you here." He did too. Unfortunately, Mr. Lee had all the help he needed at the livery stable.

Heath gave his friend a lopsided grin. Men like Jenny's white headed father made his life bearable at the worst of times. He also thought on Gideon Stokes. Because Gideon had talked to Heath shortly before he died, Heath knew of Nick and Jarrod's promise to give him a job if he needed it. He probably wouldn't have thought on it and eventually sent a simple telegram that read _"Job available?" _only he had his children to think about. By the time Jack let him go, Jarrod had sent him a wire back. "Don't worry about it." Heath told Mr. Lee as he headed back into the house for another box.

It didn't take all that long to load the wagon. Heath and his children didn't have all that much to pack. They weren't taking the furniture either; it had come with the house. Once the wagon was loaded, Heath took one last walk through the house, stopping in the children's room the longest. His thoughts again took him down memory lane.

_"Oh, Heath! Look at this house! It's beautiful!" Elizabeth's hands flew up to her mouth as she looked around the living room. The walls had been painted white, a couch sat up against the west wall with a large rectangular window above it and the front door off to its right. A chair sat against the north wall with a matching chair against the south one. A fireplace sat on the east side of the room and another window set a few feet away from the fireplace._

_ Elizabeth hurried into the kitchen and looked through all the cupboards, some had canned food in them while others held the dishes they would need, and then she'd explored the bedrooms which one got to by opening a door in the corner of the kitchen. Once she reached the room that would eventually belong to the twins, she'd stopped and leaned against the window. "Is it really ours?"_

_ Heath gave her one of his rare wide grins and swung her around in a circle. He was thrilled she liked the house. He'd actually had two to choose from, but the other home only had one bedroom. "For as long as I work for Gideon Stokes it is," he answered as he set her back down on her feet and drew her to him, "and I'll work for him as long as I can." He'd then laid her down on the bed that the Stokes had been kind enough to provide for them and loved her for all he was worth. _

Heath found a tear trickling down his cheek as that memory finished only to have another one start playing. A memory of the day he and Elizabeth had become parents.

_"I'm huge and these babies are so active!" Elizabeth laid the palms of her hands upon her swollen abdomen and smiled as the children inside her womb kicked and rolled around, making a rippling effect appear across her stomach. "How are we going to keep up with them?"_

_ Heath gave her a crook smile as he sat at the table going over the men's work details for the week. If he could keep up with twenty men, he was sure he would be able to keep up with two children. "We'll take one day at a time, honey." He never called anything but honey anymore. She'd smiled and went back to the sewing she was doing only to double over and scream his name not half hour later._

Heath leaned against the door frame as he remembered the hours he'd spent out on the front porch talking to Gideon and a few of the ranch hands while Mrs. Stokes and Doctor Myers had attended to Elizabeth. The children were three weeks early, and they were all concerned that the babies might not be strong enough to survive. Twenty-four hours after the first pain hit, the twins had come. The first month had been a fight for them for sure, but they'd thrived and grew. "Guess ya know we're movin' again." Heath said out loud as he thought on his late wife. "Don't like it, but Mr. Stokes died and that son of his still doesn't cotton to me. Guess it don't matter none, Gideon promised me the Barkley's were good people and would pay enough for me to provide for the children. That's what I gotta think 'bout right now, not some man fool enough to think the world revolves around him." As Heath finished speaking and stepped out of the door, he could have sworn his late wife brushed up against him and whispered for him to take care of himself and the children.

His thoughts were interrupted as Leah, who was sitting on the buckboard, Mr. Lee had helped her up, stood up and practically flew through the air into her father's arms. Actually, she stood on the edge and jumped the moment she thought he was close enough. Heath himself had to do his own jumping in order to catch her. "Boy howdy, girl! Do you think you can get my heart movin' any faster?"

"Do you really want to know?" Mr. Lee laughed, once he got his own heart back in place.

"Not really," Heath laughed and answered as he put his young daughter back where she'd been, making sure Bryon, who had moved over when his sister jumped, got back in his own spot, and then climbed up himself. Once he was up, Mr. Lee shook his hand, allowing Jenny to do the same afterwards.

"Good luck, Mr. Thomson, bye Leah, bye Bryon." Jenny made herself smile for the Thomson's sake, though her heart was breaking. She loved the two children like she loved her own siblings, but she understood Heath had to do what he needed to in order to take care of his children.

"Thanks." Heath nodded to his friends and then lifted the reins and brought them down; the horses moved and seconds later Mr. Lee and his daughter were watching the Thomson family leave Modesto.


	7. New Arrival

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Seven**

By the time the Barkley ranch came into sight, Leah and Bryon were sound asleep. Bryon was curled up on the buckboard, while Leah had sat on her father's lap and had her head against his chest. Heath had one arm around her while holding the reins with his free hand. Needless to say, Heath was more than relieved to have the main house come into sight, though he couldn't help but let out a soft, low whistle when he saw it. He'd seldom seen any house this size in his life. Not even Mr. Stokes fancy home was anything like this. Heath didn't know why; but all of sudden he could see himself at twelve years old, standing in the small house his mother shared with Hannah and his "Aunt" Rachel. He was asking, almost demanding that his mother tell him more about his father. She'd taken him outside on the back porch to talk to him privately.

_"Son, your father is a good man. He's also a very important man and well respected. He travels a lot."_

"If he's so good why isn't he here? If he's so important and has money to travel, why do we have so little?" Heath snapped, angry at the thought his dear mother had to work from morning to night, angry he had to live with the label of a bastard and had to drop out of school to help. He'd instantly been ashamed at his outburst as his mother had turned away, but not before he'd seen the hurt in her eyes. Because he didn't know if it was because he'd snapped or the fact that they didn't have that much and she felt guilty, Heath quickly apologized and silently promised never to talk about his father again, though he found resentment towards his father plant itself in his heart.  
  
"Are we there yet?" Leah opened her eyes as she felt the wagon slowing down.

As Heath drove through the main gate and saw Jarrod and Nick, he smiled at his daughter and answered, "Looks like it."

Leah shifted her weight and was soon sitting with her back against her father's chest. Her eyes fell on the two Barkley brothers. Heath didn't know whether to hide or not as Leah lifted her arm, started bouncing wildly and cried out excitedly, "Look, papa! It's the cowboy in black!" Her reaction to seeing Nick might have had embarrassed Heath, but it didn't exactly hurt Nick's feelings and gave Jarrod some ammo to tease the hot tempered rancher with.

"I see you made it okay." Nick stepped forward and took Leah from Heath as the man climbed down from the wagon. By that time Bryon was also awake and trying to get out of the wagon. His father held him. Soon the lad had his small arms wrapped around his father's neck and his feet wrapped around the man's sides.

"I'll get your bags; you'll be staying in the main house tonight." Jarrod said as he grabbed the two suitcases that sat in the back of the wagon, towards the front. "We can get McCall or one of the hands to take your wagon down to house you'll be using. It's small, but it has two bedrooms. We'll help you move in tomorrow." If things worked out, Jarrod knew the family could look at adding a bedroom once Leah got a little older. Of course, he wasn't about to voice that thought out loud to a man he'd only recently met.

"Mother and Audra want to meet you." Nick said as he turned towards the house with Leah in pretty much the same position on him as her brother was on her father.

Heath would have preferred to simply head to the house he and the children would be using. However, he didn't want to be rude to the Barkley matriarch, nor did he wish to offend the man who was providing employment for him…even if it was, as far as he knew, simply to do the late Mr. Stokes a favor, and to make sure the children had a roof over their head.

Victoria was glad she was sitting down on the sofa when Nick walked in carrying Leah with Heath and Bryon following behind, while Jarrod carried the bags straight up to the rooms Heath and his children would be given for the night. One look at Heath and it was as if someone had reached up, taken a hold of the hands on the clock and turned them back faster than she thought possible. He bore a striking resemblance to her husband Tom when he was that age. If her husband hadn't grown a beard shortly after he'd turned thirty and gone prematurely gray, she was sure Nick would have seen the resemblance between their father and the man who now stood in the family's living room. Why Jarrod, who had been ten at the time his father started growing a beard, wasn't seeing it she didn't know. That is, unless it was simply that too many years had gone by.

Standing up, Victoria held out her hand. "Hello, Mr. Thomson. May I call you Heath?" she forced herself to address him as she would any other guest in their home. Because of her promise made on the verandah, Victoria addressed him formally and asked if she could call him by his first name.

Because of being so engulfed in looking around the home he'd just entered, the normally observant Heath missed the shaken look that had appeared on Victoria's face for a split second. By the time he'd looked her way, she had composed herself once more. "Heath's fine, ma'am," Heath took the offered hand. "This is Bryon." He looked down at his son who had a tight hold of his leg. He was about to say something else when Leah let a shrill of delight, one that had everyone but Nick, who was holding the girl on his lap, jumping three feet in the air. Due to having his eyes on the young child, Nick too had missed his mother's initial reaction when she'd seen Heath. As it was, he was smiling at Leah's reaction to the gift he'd just given her.

"Candy Cane, Papa! Cowboy gave it to me!" Leah smiled from ear to ear while the Barkley's chuckled at the name the child had given Nick. Even Heath had a small lopsided grin appear, momentarily, upon his face. He then grew serious.

"His name is Mr. Barkley. What do you say to him?" Heath gave his daughter a kind, but firm, reprimand.

She turned and tilted her head up to look at Nick. "Thank you, Mister Barkley." She then had everyone in stitches, including her father, as she point blank asked, "Can't I just call you Cowboy?"

Before Heath could say anything, Nick was nodding and tapping the young child's nose very lightly. "You bet you can. It's what I am, isn't it?"

The rest of the evening was spent eating supper and visiting. Actually, the Barkley's and Leah visited with Heath throwing a comment in now and then; Bryon never said a word as he sat by his father. Truth be told, the blond haired cowboy was more than happy when it came time to get the children to bed. Since he had to report early to work and move things into the house they'd be using the next day, he used those two reasons as an excuse to retire early himself.


	8. Musings and Cookies

**Chapter Eight**

Heath wiped his forehead with his bandana. He'd been repairing a stretch of fence most of the morning. He might have had a hard time concentrating on work, but Audra had been kind enough to offer to watch his children while he worked, free of charge. That was the one blessing he was extremely grateful for. While the Barkleys paid well, paying anyone to watch his children would have taken money that really could be used to provide the things Bryon and Leah needed.

As hot as the sun was making the day, he wished he could have taken his shirt off, but other ranch hands, along with Nick, would wander by every once in awhile, as they also had jobs that were in the process of getting done. That being the case, Heath didn't feel like taking a chance and having any of them see the scars upon his back. The scars that very few people knew about; ones put there, both by his Aunt Martha when he was growing up, or ones he received while a prisoner of war. He wiped his forehead again and then put the bandana in his pocket.

Almost mesmerized as he watched a rabbit hop through the grass had him thinking about the war and what a feast he and other soldiers would have had if they'd been able to catch such game. Looking back at it, he wondered why he hadn't simply found another way to help his mother with money, but it seemed like good money to a thirteen year old; one that could handle a gun and was tall and lanky enough to pass for an older boy. He'd seen many things early on in his life, but nothing like that; young people shot, his own buddies near dying of starvation on the front lines, and then of course the prison camp. His stomach clenched when he came anywhere near those memories, so he quickly dismissed them. He sighed again when he thought on his mother…how she'd worried for him when he went to war and how she'd rejoiced the day he came back. He looked around him and remembered how glad she was the day he said he was going to look into working on a ranch instead of mines or serving in the military.

Slowly his mind turned to the Barkley family. They were good, friendly folk like Gideon and his wife had been, though he was troubled by the feelings he was getting; ones that seemed to continue to say he was closer to home that he thought. He wondered if it was just because his daughter had taken such a shine to the all the Barkley's or, to get more specific, to the fact that she'd latched on to his new boss as if to say 'back off, he's mine!' That part, Leah becoming so possessive of Nick, was quite amusing. If the dark haired rancher was in the house, or around the yard, Leah was his constant shadow…when her father wasn't around; even then she didn't let Nick out of her sight. He knew about Leah following Nick so much because he'd heard some of Barkley's other hands joking that Nick had a new gal, one that wasn't going to just step aside and give him away. Heath's musings then turned to Victoria; she'd stopped by the night before.

_Victoria, who had ridden her horse to the two bedroom house where Heath and his children were now living, stood on the porch watching Bryon playing with the puppy Nicholas had insisted on buying for the children. It was a puppy that Heath would have sent packing only both his children had instantly fallen in love with the animal, and he didn't have the heart to take it away from them._

Heath looked up at the evening sky, which was starting to show some signs that end of the day was to make its appearance. He wasn't sure what to think of Mrs. Barkley's visit, but he wasn't going to be a rude host either. That being the case, he hadn't argued when she asked if they visit on the porch while the children played. Though, he admitted to himself he feared where the visiting might lead to. Since he'd sensed some unease on her part, he couldn't help but wonder if his illegitimacy bothered her, if she wanted to ask questions because of it, and he feared what some of the questions might be. A lot of those questions, he wouldn't be willing to give answers to.

For her part, Victoria smiled as she continued to watch the children, doing her best to keep the unease Heath saw under control. After a few moments, she took a chance and said, "My sons, Jarrod and Nick, say you were born and raised in Strawberry." She turned her eyes away from the children and kept them on Heath as she talked, wanting to make sure she didn't miss any silent messages.

For a moment, he did not answer. His mind was on not only Strawberry, but on his mother, Hannah and his "Aunt" Rachel. For the first time in quite some time, he felt homesick. Because of that homesickness, he might have given his notice and gone back to Strawberry, but there wasn't anything left for him there now. Finally he looked at her, nodded and said, "Yes, ma'am, though by the time I was twelve the town was beginning to die out. I'm amazed anyone still lives there." Heath then turned his eyes away Victoria and onto his children.

Heath slammed another pole down into the ground, as he remembered how Mrs. Barkley talked about her family and how glad she was that Heath and his children were now living on the ranch._ "It's been wonderful having young children in the main house again,"_ had been her exact words. He offered a comment here and there, to be polite, but he'd kept his conversation on the present, never on the past. Whether or not the ranch's matriarch would have gotten around asking about any family he might have, Heath did not know, as the good woman had been pulled away on some family business. Right or wrong, he was grateful for that fact.

Heath forced his mind off his past and off Mrs. Barkley's visit. He had a life to lead and children who needed him. That being the case, he went back to work. The last thing he needed was to leave work unfinished or finish it too slow. If he did that, Nick Barkley was bound to fire him sooner or later.

** ~oOo~**

"Leah!" Audra exclaimed as she hurried into the kitchen. She'd been searching for the young child. Audra had put both children down for a nap. Not fifteen minutes later Bryon was asleep, and Audra was searching for Leah. After looking all over the upstairs, Audra had grown desperate and hurried down the stairs as fast as she could. Because of the noise she'd heard coming from the kitchen, Audra had decided to look in that room first. Now she stared at the young child who stood on a stool and had flour all over the table. "What are you doing?"

"Making cookies for Papa and Cowboy," Leah said matter of factually.

Audra wanted to laugh, but she didn't want to hurt Leah's feelings. Besides, there was something special about the young girl and her family. "Well," Audra smiled as she began cleaning up the mess the little girl had made, "Why don't I help you? We can make them together."

Leah started beaming and clapped her hands; liking the idea very much. "Okay!"

Soon, Audra had the cookie dough mixed and was helping Leah put it on the cookie sheet. She just hoped that Nick would keep his mouth shut about her cooking, if for no other reason than to humor Leah.


	9. Croquet and Revelations

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Nine**

There was a comfortable breeze blowing through the air as Heath stood underneath a tree in the front yard watching his children play with Audra. He was listening to the talk going on between Victoria, Jarrod and Nick. He would have just taken his children and gone home, but Leah had begged to be allowed to finish playing the game Audra had began to teach them. He had relented and stayed where he was since it was actually quite humorous watching as the young woman stand behind Leah, or Bryon depending on whose turn it was, holding onto the mallet, or wicket as many people called it, trying to hit the wood ball on the ground with the children moving the mallet the wrong way. Heath was actually allowing himself to enjoy the moment. While he couldn't see himself playing a game of *croquet, it did his heart good to see his children having so much fun. Only when the topic among Victoria and her sons changed to a more serious matter was Heath's attention drawn away from Audra and his young children.

"I know the railroad wasn't happy when you boys and the farmers won that fight at Sample's." Victoria was speaking to her sons, but keeping an eye on the young man she was sure was Tom's illegitimate son. If he'd been on the ranch longer than three weeks, she'd have pulled him aside and explained everything to him. As it was, she continued to keep her mouth shut as she had promised, feeling he needed just a little bit more time. Now, she told herself that, if she was right, he had every right to hear their conversation. It was the main reason she had not pointed out the need for her and her sons to move inside. "I'm just wondering if you think Crown or anyone else will cause any more trouble."

Jarrod and Nick sighed at the same time. It was quite a comical scene and had the topic not been so serious, Victoria, Jarrod, Nick and Heath might have even chuckled. As it was, Jarrod spoke first since he knew Crown the best. "Crown would do more, but he's had other matters, more important ones, come up." Jarrod sat up straight. "He has legal problems that I can't discuss here. However, from I can't shake the feeling that at least one person, if not a few, will try to recoup whatever loss they feel they suffered by causing us trouble."

"Sore losers throwing a childish fit in other words." Nick crossed his arms and scowled.

"I'd say that sums it up pretty well, dear brother." Jarrod answered. "But, there's no use worrying too much about it right now. I mean, you can't plan for something when you don't know what that something is. I mean, other than to keep our eyes and ears wide open." His family all nodded and verbally agreed.

Heath tucked the information away, as he felt he owed the family his loyalty as since they'd been nothing but helpful since the day Nick hired him. In fact, Audra had downright insisted he not look for anyone but she to watch his children and she'd flat out refused to take any money for it. That alone gave him enough reason to stand by the family if anyone caused them trouble.

~oOo~ **  
**  
Heath sat on the side of his son's bed reading his children their favorite bible story, David and Goliath. He always read, or told, them a story before they had to retire for the night. Though, he'd come close to skipping the tradition for one night as tired as he was. However, his children were so wound up from the time spent with the Barkley's that evening that he'd decided against it. He wasn't surprised that by the end of the story Bryon was asleep and Leah was the one who still had her eyes open. Though, he was taken aback when the child proved once more that she was no average four and a half year old. Heath couldn't help but stare as she asked, "Is he the same Goliath in grandma's bible?"

"Ya, it is. Why do you ask?" He stood up and moved over to the side of her bed.

"Because you keep standing in front of the bookshelf looking at it, you never read us the stories from that one. Why? Is he scary, like a big bad giant? Is he scarier in that grandma's bible, Papa?" Leah yawned as she pulled her covers up to her shoulders and snuggled up in a ball, "You never pick it up and open it." Her eyes closed and she was asleep before he had a chance to answer.

For a moment all Heath could do was sit and think on what she'd said. She was right; he had told his children stories by memory, read from children's publications and various bibles, but he had never once opened his mother's bible. While he could understand why he would act that way in the early days after her death, Heath had no answer to the child's question when it came to his life now. Why hadn't he opened it? His mind turned the question over in his mind as he thought on his daughter. The child had an uncanny gift of asking the simplest of questions and getting him to open his eyes. Heath stood up and made his way into the short hallway that sat outside the children's room. After pausing in the door way for a few seconds, to smile upon his sleeping children, Heath shut the children's door quietly and then, made his way to the living room.

Once again he stood in front of the book shelf only this time, when he felt as if someone was pushing him to take the book off the shelf, Heath didn't fight it. Soon he was sitting on the couch with only the light of the lamp which set on a small table that set between the door and the couch to fill the room. Carefully, almost reverently, he held the bible in his hands before opening it up. He began leafing through it. Heath wasn't surprised to see more than a few verses underline and comments written along the edges. Each verse seemed to have a special message and had probably helped give his mother strength during many dark hours. However, he got the shock of his life as he drew close to the end of the book, a letter and a worn out newspaper clipping fell out of the book and onto the floor. Reaching down, Heath bent over and picked the items up.

He felt his heart skip a beat as he unfolded the newspaper clipping and read: TOM BARKLEY SHOT TO DEATH: Whole Valley Mourns. A picture of Tom was included in the article. What was his mother doing with the announcement of Tom Barkley's death? Heath laid the clipping down and opened up the folded letter. He had greater shock waves go through him as he read:

_Dear Tom,_

_You will never receive this letter, but I have to write it anyway….. **  
****  
** _~oOo~

* wiki/Croquet


	10. Chapter 10

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Ten**

From where he sat on Charger, Heath could see Audra and his children sitting on a blanket that the woman he now knew to be his half sister had spread out on the ground. Bryon was sitting on the blanket eating a sandwich while his daughter was sitting on Audra's lap leaning backwards into the young woman's arms. Audra herself had a book in her hands and was reading a story to the children. _"I don't understand how a man as kind, as good as you are could let me think you had no wife, no children…"_ A portion of the words in the letter his mother had written again rang in his ears. _"What will I tell this son I bore the day he gets old enough to ask questions? Will I be able to tell him I kept him from you because he's all I had?"_ Heath found himself again fighting the same range of emotions that had plagued him off and on throughout the past week. Anywhere from confusion because he didn't understand either to anger…how could a man deny having a family?

A part of him had screamed at him to go and confront one of his half brothers with the news he'd discovered, to demand the name that was rightfully his. However, there were two reasons he found himself torn between doing just that and simply keeping his mouth shut…Victoria Barkley and his own children. Unaware that Victoria already had her suspicions and had only been holding back out of fear of pushing him away before he had a chance to get to know them better, Heath wondered if he really had the heart to rip apart the memory the grand lady must have of her late husband. He wasn't sure. Even if he did, Heath feared the family might not want reminders that Tom Barkley had been unfaithful and want him gone. If it was just him that it might or might not bother him, but he knew he had his children to think of. They had to be provided for and the Barkley's paid as well as Mr. Stokes paid his employees. Was he really willing to risk everything when it could cost his children dearly?

Heath pushed his horse forward as he kept his eyes on his children. He couldn't help but frown slightly, his mind still on the relationship his children now had with the family. Audra had been so good to help with the children and, on more than one occasion refused to take any money from him for watching them. He couldn't help but wonder what she would think if she knew she'd been watching her own niece and nephew. Would she continue to welcome them with open arms, or would she quickly shun them as they'd be just another reminder that their father was a product of her father's unfaithfulness to her mother?

As he drew closer, he saw his daughter point to the book in front of her and exclaim, "Cowboy! That looks like my Cowboy!" Audra chuckled; however, Heath's eyebrows turned down even more. Nick. When his loud and hot tempered employer was around, Leah was practically his shadow. Though, when it came to his temper, Nick never lost it with the young child. With her, he was as patient as he could be. She was at an age she thought the man in black could do no wrong. Oh sure, time would teach her different; it would show her he was human and made mistakes just like everyone else. Still, if the bond wasn't broken, Heath was sure she'd still adore him even with the imperfections. But if Nick found out…For a moment, Heath found himself back in the war, back in the prison camp talking to another young soldier.

_"He turned on you? He made you join the army?" Heath looked in disbelief at the young man next to him, a boy only a few months older than him. Why would his uncle force a thirteen year old boy to join the military? ___

_"I told ya, he didn't know I was his nephew. When pappy died, Uncle John thought he was simply taking in his best friend's son. Then he learned my pappy was his half brother, his father's bastard son. Didn't want anything to do with me then," the boy answered as he closed his eyes and fell asleep never to awake again. __  
_  
Heath was brought back to the present, when Leah saw him and jumped off Audra's lap. He quickly dismounted, not wanting Leah to come running at him; she might spook the animal. Letting go of the reins, he took a few steps forward and caught his daughter who was indeed running towards him up into his arms.

"Hello, I didn't see you." Audra smiled and stood up. "Want to join us?"

"Thanks, but no. I just figured I'd stop by and see how the children were doing." Heath kept a safe distance between him and Audra though. With his unexpected discovery, he was very uncomfortable with the way Audra had begun looking at him. At one time, he would have been flattered, even considered the possibility pursuing her, but not now. He couldn't let her think there was a chance for anything between them.

Audra was puzzled by Mr. Thompson's defensive stand, a stand that had appeared over the past week anytime she was around. Heath had always been very friendly with her. Oh no, he'd never flirted with her or anything, but he'd never acted like he was on edge around her either. She might have thought he had grown on crush on her only he didn't have 'that' look about him. No, he definitely had more of 'how do I get out of this politely' look. She didn't know what she'd done wrong and she didn't like that. She made herself smile and point to Bryon, who was now running around in the field with Buster; the puppy Nick had given them had finally been given a name. "I'd say they're doing fine."

"Play with us, papa?" Leah put her small hands on her father's cheeks and asked. It made both Audra and Heath smile.

Heath knew he had work to do; still, he had most of it done. "Okay, but only for a few minutes, then I have to go back to work." He smiled again and set Leah down and, holding her hand, went to join Bryon never once looking back at Audra, who was still trying to figure out what on earth she'd done wrong.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Eleven**

Jarrod sat behind his desk while Audra, who was looking rather upset, sat in a chair in front of him. With continued rumors that at least one man, if not more, who had ridden with the railroad was planning on causing more trouble; Jarrod had been busy reviewing various reports on those men until his sister had asked to speak with him.

"What is it, little sis?" Jarrod felt the Pappy side of him kick in as he set the papers aside and leaned forward.

"It's Heath," Audra blurted out, tears close to falling. "I have got to have done something!"

Jarrod's eyebrows turned downwards. While he'd had a feeling Audra had become interested in their newest hand, he couldn't help but wonder what had happened to make his sister think she'd done anything out of line. "What do you mean?"

"When he first got here and I began watching his children, he was friendly and warm," due to the sudden upward movement of one of Jarrod's eyebrows, she hurried on to explain, "I don't mean anything wrong by that statement! I just mean we seemed to get have a connection, to talk easily with each other and such. But now," She said as a touch of sadness came into her voice and her shoulders lowered a bit as she talked about the picnic earlier in the day, "It was like he thought he was doing something wrong in being there. He barely had two words to say to me. The few minutes he was there, all his attention was on his children."

Not knowing what Heath had discovered, Jarrod made a natural assumption. Smiling kindly upon his sister, he assured her he didn't think it was her herself that was the problem. "People go through the grieving process at different paces, little sis. His wife's death, from what little I was told by the Stokes, was sudden and unexpected. Yes," he nodded and held up his hand as Audra sat up as tall as she could and looked as if she was going to object, "it's been somewhere around three years. Audra," Jarrod put his hand down and gave her a look that said quite forcefully _"Please, think",_ "whether you like it or not, while some people are more than ready in that time, some aren't. Maybe, he's just not ready look at anyone seriously. And," he said with a tone of a bit of reprimand in his voice, "if that's why you've been watching his children for free, not to simply to be around the children, then I highly suggest you talk to him about pay." He was sure Mr. Thomson would not argue as he, Jarrod, had heard the man make the offer more than once.

Thinking on the way she'd been behaving lately, Audra sighed acknowledging she'd been doing what she could to send the man some messages she was interested. It was true she had a bit of a crush on him; he was good looking and he was such a good father. In some ways he reminded her of her father when she was little. It wasn't hard to be attracted to a man like that, but she presumed she wasn't pushing too hard and didn't think she had made any unsavory advances; well she hoped not, though not charging him for child care was a bit tacky she had to admit. "You think I scared him?" She hated the idea she'd done that to anyone.

Jarrod chuckled. He couldn't see his sister scaring anyone. "I don't think it's you yourself that scared him. But, I'd give up on the idea of the two of you together. From what you say, he's made it quite obvious he's not interested." He wasn't about to add that he was relieved to hear it as the nagging feeling that there was more to Heath than he knew continued to grow. If the nagging feeling was accompanied by an uncomfortable one, he'd think the blond haired gentleman might be in cahoots with Crown's former friends, but it wasn't. No, if anything, it was more of a feeling that some invisible hand was pushing him, begging him, Jarrod, to see and remember something. It wouldn't have been so bad but, more than once, he'd felt like it was his own father doing the pushing! The question was…what was he supposed to remember?

Audra, who had been began chattering stopped talking, excused herself and then left the room feeling much better than before, leaving Jarrod grateful she'd asked no questions. He realized that, like with Nick in the stables, he'd let his mind wander and hadn't been listening to his sister!

While Audra was talking to Jarrod, Heath was working in the stable doing his best to concentrate on his work. It wasn't easy as he was struggling to decide what he should do. He'd been at the ranch just long enough to start admiring the Barkley's for the love and strength they seemed do share when he'd found the newspaper clipping and unsent letter his mother had written. The more he thought on it the more he fought with himself.

He wanted the name that rightfully belonged to him; his children deserved to have the right name too, but….his train of thought was broken when he heard the sound of spurs hitting the stable floor. Nick.

"May I help you?" Heath looked up and asked as he put the pitchfork up, grabbed a brush and started to brush one of the horses McCall had asked him to take care of. Actually, the horse could have waited, but Nick looked more than a bit bent out of shape and Heath didn't want to risk doing anything to make the man's mood any worse. He made it halfway down the animal's side when Nick answered. When he did, Heath was shocked beyond measure.

Unbeknownst to Jarrod or Audra, Nick had been outside the study door and heard the first part of the conversation. He'd listened up to the part where he heard how aloof Heath had been and stormed out of the house and was now standing in the stable looking at Heath. "What has Audra ever done to you?" He snapped, his irritation clearing showing.

Heath's arm dropped to his side as he turned to look directly at Nick, his surprise was showing as clear as the noon day sun. "What are you talkin' 'bout? She's never done a thing wrong."

"Then why start acting like it's not safe for you to be in the same place as her?" Nick kept his eyes on Heath as he explained what he'd overheard in the house. "She likes you and thought you liked her. Now, you give her the cold shoulder and say she's hasn't done anything. What kind of man leads a woman on only to turn around and give her the cold shoulder?"

Heath felt himself instantly stiffen as he heard more of his mother's words from the letter repeat themselves in his ears. "First off, I never led her on!" Heath shot back, stiffening even more so as he did so. At least, he couldn't think of one thing that he'd said or done to that would be put in the 'leading her on' category. "Second, I never meant to give her the cold shoulder. I…" he did his best to relax as he went back to brushing the horse before him, "simply got caught up playing with my children. I'll apologize to her and make it clear that I also never meant to give her the idea there was a chance of anything existing between the two of us. Okay?" He turned his head and looked at Nick.

Nick was still a bit unsettled only what was he supposed to do? It's not like the man had actually hurt Audra in any way. Well, not intentionally, and he had just said he'd do what he could to clear things up with Audra. He might have continued the conversation, but he could hear McCall outside calling for him. "All right," He turned and walked out of the stable leaving Heath once again fighting the battle that was waging on inside of himself, a battle where one side was telling him to open his mouth while the other side told him to keep quiet.


	12. Friends

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Twelve**

Heath stood for what felt like a good five minutes in front of the front door of the Barkley home. Because of work commitments, he'd simply dropped his children off at the house that morning and left. Only that work was over and until he set things right with Audra, he knew he couldn't think about picking up his children and going home. He just hoped he could do this and not let their biological relationship to each other slip out. When he finally knocked, Heath found Silas opening the door for him.

"Hello, Mister Heath." Silas liked the young man whom the Barkley's had hired and treated him with the same respect as he did his employers.

"Hello, Silas." Heath said as he stepped inside.

"Mr. Bryon and Miss Leah," Silas said as he turned around, "are in the kitchen with Maria." Maria was the Barkley's housekeeper come part time cook. Silas was surprised when Heath stopped him and looked towards the living room where Audra was sitting doing some embroidery work.

"I need to talk to Audra first." Heath told him.

Upon hearing her name, Audra put down what she was doing and stood up, a part of her hoping Heath had gotten past whatever he needed to, and wanted to court her. "Come on in!" She smiled and waved her hand through the air as she spoke.

Heath, who had taken off his hat, held it in his hands and walked into the living room, though he remained standing even when she told him he could sit on a chair or the sofa. "Nick came by the stable this afternoon." He turned his hat around in his hands. Somehow he wasn't surprised by the look that came onto Audra's face, a mixture of gratitude and irritation both. Heath figured it was because she was grateful that Nick cared enough to butt in and irritated that he'd had the nerve to actually do it.

"And just what did my dear brother have to say?" Audra folded her arms as she spoke, though she wondered if she really wanted, or needed, an answer. Nick had a tendency to overdo things at times, even if he meant well. That fact made her a bit leery as she had a thousand things her middle brother could have said to their newest ranch hand.

Heath sighed. "He was concerned about you, thought I led you on." He looked apologetically at Audra and said, "I never meant to do that. If I had known you were thinking along those lines," _'If I had known who you were, what we were'_ was a thought he added only to himself, "I could have told you I'm not lookin' for a... a serious relationship or a wife. My late wife Elizabeth, well... it's just too soon for me. I'm sorry, Audra." He wasn't lying. He wasn't; someday, maybe, but not right now.

Audra did her best not to let her let her disappointment show. Grudgingly, she admitted she'd talked to Jarrod. "He thought that might be the case." Then, because she got the strongest impression there was something he was leaving unsaid, she asked. "There's nothing else to it?"

Heath shifted his weight a bit as he realized if he said yes she might hold onto the hope of being courted later. What on earth was he supposed to say to get that notion out of her head? "I'm not much for words, Audra." Heath answered after a moment. "Please, just accept the fact we can't be together."

Audra might have argued with him, but she remembered what Jarrod said. She didn't know how long it would take before Heath Thomson to be ready to marry again, but she knew she wasn't about to put her life on hold for him either. "Friends then?" She held out her hand and gave him a genuine smile.

"Friends," Heath gave her a small crooked smile and then excused himself. He had to get his children.

Leah was laughing and rolling cookie dough the best she could when her father walked in. He could see Bryon through the open kitchen door helping Silas gathering some vegetables in the garden outside. "Look papa!" Leah pointed to the cookie sheet full of cookie dough. "More cookies for you and Cowboy Nick!" the child had finally accepted that the dark haired rancher needed more to his name than cowboy. "Gotta keep all these cowboys straight somehow!" Those had been her exact words when she'd asked Nick if she could change his name. He'd busted up laughing and told her she could call him whatever she wanted too.

"I'm sure they'll be good. However, I think it's about time you start cleaning up. It's about time we get home." In spite of the stress he was feeling, Heath did his best to talk patiently with his daughter. After all, she was far too young to understand what dilemma he had been handed, or why it was so hard for him to make up his mind what to do. No, he was determined his children would not feel the stress he was under.

"Why can't we just stay here? It feels like home." The child's innocent remark had Maria smiling, but they only made Heath fighting to keep his emotions in check. This should be their home. He and his children should have the Barkley name, but he didn't know how to get it without putting the children in the middle of what he just knew would be the fight of a lifetime.

"That's because the Barkley's are so nice to us." Heath refrained from adding anything else. How could he do add anything else without breaking the promise he'd made to keep the youngsters out of it. "It's still time to get home." He then stepped to the open door and called for his son who seemed to be enjoying himself as well as Leah had been. Bryon didn't hesitate to do as his father said, after saying goodbye to Silas, who thanked the lad for his help. Soon, Heath had his children in the wagon and heading home unware his life would soon change once more.


	13. Jarrod Suspicion's and Trouble

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Thirteen**

The wind was beginning to blow as Jarrod stood at the Verandah telling himself he should go inside. He couldn't seem to get himself to move though. Just that morning Fred had come to his office and told him a man by the name of Matthew Kilgore had been arrested for stealing dynamite. Furthermore, the sheriff said the man had one thousand dollars on him. Mr. Kilgore had admitted that he'd been paid to do whatever damage he could to the Barkley ranch though he refused to say who did the hiring. That, on top of the impression that had once again begun niggling at his mind as he thought on Heath Thomson, had him more than a bit troubled. It wasn't until Nick walked up beside him that Jarrod stop his silent thinking and made any sort of movement. Turning his head, Jarrod looked at Nick and asked him if he'd heard about Mr. Kilgore.

"Yeah, I heard." Nick sounded disgusted. "Whoever it was isn't just going to give up. I want to know who put him up to it." It was a statement he made without expecting any reply. When Jarrod said nothing, Nick grew extremely concerned. "What is it, Jarrod? What's wrong?" Nick asked the question as he took a step towards his brother, out of concern. Jarrod stepped backwards slightly and looked at his brother with a look that told Nick that Jarrod was greatly troubled, only question was why.

"Heath," Jarrod looked at Nick in earnest, "remember how we both felt like we should know him, somehow? I mean, back in Modesto."

"Of course, I do." Nick snapped as he asked, "Did you remember something about him, something that we should be forewarned about?" Nick didn't like that idea, not with solid evidence that someone meant to get their revenge for the loss they felt they'd suffered at Sample's farm.

"No, it's nothing like that. However, his blonde hair, his blue eyes, the way he walks…" Jarrod finally voiced the traits that belonged to their newest employee that had reached out and grabbed him over the past two months. Stiffening, he finally remembered their father without a beard, "You know, father didn't always have a beard. If I didn't know any better…."

Nick, who had caught up with Jarrod's train of thought, exploded. "NO! DON'T SAY A WORD!" He turned and stormed into the billiard room only to find Jarrod in the room with him, after he'd shut the French doors.

"Nick, you might not want me to say it. For that matter, you probably wish I'd never thought it, but open your eyes!" Jarrod slammed his hands down on the pool table.

Nick didn't want to open his eyes. What Jarrod was proposing was insane! Tom Barkley was a good man, good father and good neighbor to all he knew. He loved his wife and children. "Do you know what you're saying Jarrod?" Then, not knowing what his own mother was holding back, he asked, "Do you know what your accusation would do to our mother? She was married to father for twenty-five years! You don't get that many years together by being unfaithful!"

Jarrod wasn't going to argue with Nick for the mere fact that, while he did know couples whose marriages had survived such events, he hadn't wanted to believe his parent's were one of them. "I tell you, Nick…" Jarrod never got a chance to finish his sentence as the two brothers heard Audra's screams through the open window.

Nick and Jarrod bolted from where they either sat or stood and ran through the billiard room, down the hallway and out the front door. They were none too soon. A hooded male was trying to force Audra into a buggy.

"Let go of her!" Nick yelled as he lunged for the man.

The stranger let go of Audra and ran in the opposite direction. Crying, Audra flung herself into her mother's arms; Victoria had hurried down the stairs and was standing in the doorway while Nick and Jarrod ran after the man. They stopped dead in their tracks as they saw Heath, who had left the house he and his children were using and driven to the main house, jump out of his wagon and tackle the hooded stranger to the ground. Before Jarrod and Nick reached the men, Heath had the man on his feet and was holding his arms behind his back.

Nick reached out, took the hood off the man and gasped, as did Jarrod. Before them stood a man by the name of Adam Thayer, a man who they thought was a friend. "What were you doing!" Nick bellowed as he reached out to grab the man.

Jarrod had to pull him back while, Heath kept a firm hold on the man who wanted nothing more than to get away from the friends he'd just attempted to betray. "Answer my brother!" Jarrod glared at Mr. Thayer seconds before Nick started throwing questions at the man once more.

"Where were you taking my sister? What were you going to do to Audra! Are you in on this by yourself or are you working for someone else, Thayer!" After hearing the news about Kilgore, Nick couldn't help but shout the last question too as it very well could be a high possibility.

Adam said nothing which, of course, only angered everyone present even more. Nick who again lunged at the man determined to get some answers. Again, Jarrod stopped him. By this time McCall and a few of the other men had come out of the bunkhouse to see what the matter was.

Letting go of Nick, who had stopped trying to get to Adam, Jarrod looked at McCall, "Could you and one of the men take Mr. Thayer into the sheriff here. Have him charged with attempted kidnapping? I'll escort Audra to town tomorrow to fill out our statements."

"Sure thing, Mr. Barkley," McCall and another man relieved Heath of his prisoner and led the man away.

Jarrod, Nick and Heath's attention then turned to Heath's children, who were kneeling down in the wagon barely looking over the top. The poor children were looking more scared than either one of them had ever seen. Heath, who had quickly made his way to the wagon, picked up Bryon, who had stood up and reached out for his father. He then managed to get his daughter into his arms also.

"Come on inside." Victoria, who was standing in the doorway with one still very shaken up Audra, looked at Heath and his children. Heath did as the Barkley Matriarch instructed. Jarrod followed him while Nick chose to remain where he was for a few more minutes asking himself one question over and over. Jarrod just couldn't be right, could he?


	14. Victoria's Confession

**Chapter Fourteen**

Victoria watched as one by one her children appeared in the study. Jarrod sat behind his desk where he was the most comfortable. Nick leaned against the bookcase, while Audra sat on a chair near her eldest brother. Since she felt absolutely sure Heath was Tom's son and felt he'd around long enough, she'd decided she need to disclose her secret; especially with the trouble that continued to brew. After telling her children, Victoria figured she could talk to Heath…once he got back from some business he and McCall had went on that is.

"Thank you for coming." Victoria stood off to the side of Jarrod's desk. "I…" she paused as she looked on Audra and inwardly shuddered when she thought on how close she'd come to losing her. She then thought on Heath, knowing if he hadn't been there Adam Thayer might have succeeded in getting away to try his stunt another day, as he was probably the fastest runner in California. "I have something to tell you, something to confess. I should have done it before now only I wanted time…" she paused again knowing she was already getting ahead of herself.

"What is it mother?" Nick stepped away from the bookcase he'd been standing by and asked, concerned that the attempted kidnapping had done more than rattle his mother's nerves.

"I have a story to tell you. You need to listen without interrupting." Victoria regained control of her voice and took on the strong appearance she was famous for. "There is a certain matter that needs to be aired before whoever is behind this current attack on us hit again. Well, maybe it doesn't _need_ to, but I don't want to chance of it coming out in the middle of another attack, not when we'll need to be really focused."

_"I have to be right," _Jarrod thought as he looked at Nick, who acted as if he hadn't seen the look in his older brother's eyes, even though he had. Neither one said a word though as Victoria continued on.

"While Nick wouldn't remember," she looked at Jarrod, "There was a tragic event in our lives when he was two and Jarrod was six. We lost a set of newborn twins, two boys."

Jarrod sat straight up as another very strong feeling, one like he'd had before, came only this time he could see himself standing in a graveyard he assumed was Stockton's cemetery looking at two small caskets being lowered. As time went by, because his parents never talked about the young babies being buried, he had grown to assume they belonged to someone else.

"WHAT!" Audra and Nick both shouted at the same time, causing their mother to lift her hand once more and give both a stern glare. Nick and Audra quieted down instantly.

Victoria sighed as she went on to explain how they had taken their small children to visit some friends and how they'd had an accident on the way home. "You climbed out of the wagon on your own, Jarrod. Your father was able to get to Nick and me out without a problem. But, when he went headed back to the wagon…" her voice broke and Jarrod spoke up, talking quietly as he did.

"The wagon moved somehow and rolled." The scene long since forgotten came back.

"Why bring this up now, after all these years?" Nick asked, a bit of gruffness in his voice. He didn't know what to think of the revelation.

Victoria sighed. "In my grief, I blamed your father. I thought he could have tried harder. I thought he could have saved them even though the doctor said the boys were, most likely, killed instantly. I pushed your father away. He wound up leaving on a business trip. He was beaten and robbed, then left for dead." She wasn't surprised when all three children looked shocked and gasped.

"Strawberry," Again, Jarrod spoke softly, "He went to Strawberry."

Victoria said nothing as she looked at Jarrod, not surprised he had made the connection. "Yes, ye he did. After he was well, he came home and…" she closed her eyes for a moment and then opened them up again "confessed he'd had an affair."

Nick took a step backwards knowing full well what his brother had tried telling him moments before the attempted kidnapping of his sister was the same idea his mother was going to present to them now. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO STAND THERE AND SAY YOU THINK HEATH THOMSON IS FATHER'S SON ARE YOU!"

"Nicholas Jonathon Barkley!" Victoria's eyes hardened as she too snapped, "You will lower your voice this instant! And, yes, that is exactly what I suspect! You didn't see your father when he was a younger man. You only remember a man going prematurely gray and wearing a beard." As she finished talking, Victoria looked out of the corner of her eye. She saw Jarrod nod ever so slightly conveying to her that he did indeed remember.

"It sure would explain why he pulled back from me, why he didn't want to explain," Audra spoke barely above a whisper, "but that doesn't make sense either. To pull back now indicates he only recently found out and how would he do that? You yourself admit you only suspect it."

Victoria had no answer for that one, and she said as much adding, "What I do know is there's a very high chance I'm right. If I am, he and those dear children have the right to be a part of this family and bear our name." When she finished, no one spoke a word.

Silence draped itself over each and every one of the Barkleys. Victoria pondered how to confront Heath and find out if he did indeed know; Jarrod wishing he'd remembered his father's face before he'd grown a beard and before the man's hair had changed colors sooner; Audra trying to digest the fact that she had tried to flirt with her own brother and was indeed an aunt, and Nick; he was having the hugest war inside himself. How could his father, the man who had seemed like such an impeccable giant, actually have lain with another woman? Nick turned away from his mother and headed for the door.

"Where are you going, Nick?" Victoria asked, worried about this middle son might do.

"I'm going out, out for a ride." He spoke as politely as he knew how and left the room. With all due respect to his family, all Nick wanted at the moment was to out in the open with no one around.


	15. Fun and Fight

**Chapter Fifteen**

Leah was sitting on her father's foot with her arms and legs wrapped around his right leg while Bryon was in the same position on his left one, as Heath weaved his way around the front of his house while his children let out squeals of delight; Heath had went straight home after he and McCall had finished their business. When Heath turned to his left, he saw Nick sitting on his horse a good fifty yards from the house. Heath didn't know what was up, but since he was growing tired anyway, he stopped and reached down and began prying his children off his legs.

"Don't stop, papa!" Leah begged as Heath set her on her feet.

"Yeah, papa, don't stop!" Bryon cried, as he too found himself standing on his own two feet. He didn't like it when his father stopped playing with him and his sister. Even at his young age, the boy knew it meant a few things…work and rest time were on top of the list.

Heath smiled kindly and then, because Mrs. Stokes had surprised them when she'd showed up at the doorstep saying she missed them and hoped to visit with them for a few weeks, sent his children into the house in spite of Leah begging to go to Cowboy Nick; she's seen him too. Heath then headed for the small barn that set a hundred yards from his family's living quarters. He wasn't surprised to see that Nick was now pressing his horse forward. Heath had had the feeling that the dark haired rancher had some business he wanted to take care of, hence the reason for sending the children into the house and for heading for the barn.

Sure enough, Heath hadn't been in the barn three or four minutes when he heard Nick stop his horse outside and dismounted. Heath, who was stacking some boxes, stopped when Nick walked in.

"May I help you?" Heath asked unsure of what to think at both the confusion and the anger he saw in the rancher's eyes. Since he'd set things straight with Audra, and he'd done all the work asked of him, Heath had no inkling what the problem could be.

Never being one to beat around the bush, and having seen the children disappear into the house, Nick got straight to the point. "Mother seems to think we share the same father."

Heath was so startled he took a step backwards and stared at Nick. How on earth...he stopped that train of thought. When it came right down to it, he guessed it didn't matter what had tipped the Barkley Matriarch off. At least it explained what he saw in Nick's eyes.

Heath's reaction threw Nick off for a moment. It was obvious their newest ranch hand had no clue anyone on the ranch connected him to the late Tom Barkley and, for a moment, Nick thought the young man would say something along the lines that the idea was preposterous. However, when Heath put his hand on post that was near him and spoke that notion flew out the barn door.

"How did she find out?" Heath asked quietly, "I never said a word to anyone."

Nick couldn't believe his ears. This could not be happening. He exploded. "I DON'T BELIEVE YOU! You had to have said or done something to put the idea into her head! My father might have slipped, but he'd never have simply walked away and left...not checking afterwards!"

While he understood Nick's denial and the fact that he'd not want to see his father in any sort of light other than the one he had the man in, Heath didn't appreciate his integrity being questioned; he snapped. "If I did or said anything, I do not know it! However," Heath stopped what he was doing, his eyes grew cold and his voice turned to steel as his feet dug a hole to the center of the earth, "Whether or not you like it, Tom Barkley was human and he messed up! He was unfaithful to your mother and then walked away from mine!"

Heath wasn't surprised when Nick came at him. In a split second, both men were taking swings at each other and helping each other say hello to the ground below. Only when they heard Leah screaming did they pull away from each other. They were shocked to see the young girl standing in the opened doorway of the barn eyes wide open and looking more scared than someone about to be attacked by a cougar. It also broke both their hearts to see tears running down her cheeks. Instantly the energy both men had to fight vanished. Heath hurried and wiped the blood that was dripping from his lip and ran to Leah and picked her up. "Sshhh, it's okay."

Leah shook her head faster than she ever had as she tried to talk in while sobbing at the same time. "No, it's not!" the young girl gasped as she looked from her father and Nick, the fear and confusion she felt reached out and hit both men in the gut. Her next words only intensified the guilt both men were feeling at that moment. "Papa and Cowboy Nick are hitting each other!"

By the time she finished Mrs. Stokes, who had started panicking as she tried to find Leah, reached the door. Her own shock at seeing the sight before her eyes showed was crystal clear. Before she could get a word out, Heath handed her his daughter. "Mrs. Stokes, please, take Leah inside."

"Papa!" Leah screamed and reached out her arms, terrified that the fight that she'd accidently came upon was going to start up again.

"Please, take her inside, now!" Heath's voice raised just a little as he nodded towards the open door. "I'll be in as soon as I can." Mrs. Stokes' eyes scolded both Heath and Nick, but she said nothing. Turning around, she hurried out of the barn with Leah still crying out for her father and begging the two men to stop fighting.

Seething with anger, Heath whirled around and glared at Nick, who was feeling horrible that Leah had witnessed the trouble between himself and her father. He'd never meant for that to happen. "I've already promised Jarrod and Mrs. Barkley that I'd keep my eyes wide open for whoever is causing trouble for the family, but I'll tell you this much," he paused as he took a deep breath, and then pointed his finger at Nick, "The moment this trouble is over, I'll pack our things and take my children away from this ranch! You will never see your niece again! And, like it or not, she is your niece as I am your father's bastard son!"

Heath turned and stormed out of the barn leaving Nick to deal with his conscience which was now giving him the beating of his life. Why on earth had he chosen to confront Mr. Thomson in a place easily assessable to the Leah? Slowly, Nick turned and drug his feet out of the barn. He mounted his horse and road away, never once seeing the young four year old child looking out of her bedroom window with tears still streaming down her face.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter Sixteen**

Heath sat in the saloon, at a table that sat near a slightly opened window. The beer he'd ordered was still quite full. He never felt so much like getting flat out stone drunk, but he couldn't afford to do such a thing. He took a small swallow of the drink and thought back on the scene that had played itself out in the house; once he'd left Nick standing in the barn.

_Heath had to hold onto the front door as he opened it, or he'd have fallen flat on his face; he was running that fast. Mrs. Stokes was standing in front of the book shelf; Bryon was on the floor playing with his wooden soldiers, but Leah was nowhere in sight. He opened his mouth only to have Mrs. Stokes, who was facing the bookshelf and had her back to him, speak up. "I don't know what on earth was going on out there," the older woman said as she turned around, "but you have one very upset daughter in the other room." __"Is everything okay, papa?" Bryon looked away from the toy soldier in his hand and up to his father, a hint of fear was in the young boy's eyes and in his voice. _

_"Yeah," Heath forced himself to give his son a crooked smile. "Everything will be fine. I just need to talk to your sister." He then took a few steps forward and opened the children's bedroom door, stepped inside the room and closed the door behind him. Leah had moved from the window over to her bed. She was now sitting on the bed, cross-legged and sobbing every so softly. Once again Heath felt his heart breaking. __  
_

_"Hey," Heath sat down and gently pulled his daughter up and onto his lap, taking her chin his hand and tilting her heard slightly upwards. "No need to cry now." After wiping her tears away, he asked her what she'd been doing out in the barn in the first place. _

_Leah slid off his lap and, getting down on the floor, slid her small hand under the bed and then pulled out two wooden whistles. She stood up and held them out for her father to see. "Mrs. Stokes helped me make them." Actually, Mrs. Stokes had done the majority of the work before coming to Stockton, intending to give them the children. However, hearing the young child talk about her father and the cowboy she was fascinated by, the older woman had simply let Leah help her finish, believing she was doing more work than she was, and then told Leah she could give them to whoever she wanted. __Leah looked up into her father's face. "They're for you and Cowboy Nick." She started crying again. "You tell Bryon and us not to fight. Why were you and Cowboy Nick fighting? Was he tricking us? Is he really a bad man?" The thought made the young child sick to her stomach._

_Heath never felt so stuck in his life. Never before had this inquisitive daughter ever asked him a question he couldn't easily answer, though it appalled him she thought Nick would ever trick them or that he was bad. He picked her back up and held her close for a few moments. Finally, with her prompting, he gave her a sad smile and said, "No, Nick Barkley is a very good man, really. When it comes to the fight; well," Heath paused and then continued, "I tell you not to fight with your brother, but you don't always listen do you?" The irony of his saying that when he'd just been fighting with his own half brother was rather amusing, in an odd sort of way; it would have made Heath laugh if the situation wasn't so serious._

_Leah shook her head and then had Heath fighting to keep from busting a gut laughing, though he did chuckle as she said, "Yeah, but he doesn't always think like he should!" _

_How ironical Heath thought. It seemed like each of his children had a part of him, but had, somehow, they also had a part of Nick; a part of him even though they had never met before that day in Modesto. It must be the Barkley blood; he offered himself the satirical, but silent excuse. Heath then took the whistles promising to treasure his and to make sure that, somehow, Nick got his. __"Well, Nick Barkley has the same bad habit, I guess. It doesn't make him a bad man. It just makes him human." Heath assured her. _

_"Good," Leah smiled and wrapped her arms around her father's neck and whispered, "I can keep him as my cowboy then." __Heath held his daughter close, so as to hide the tears that threatening to spill out of his eyes. She did not need to know what he'd said he'd do once he'd helped the Barkley's with their latest troubles. After all, while the words had been spoken in haste, he wasn't sure he wouldn't follow through on them either. __  
_  
Heath sighed. He dared say both he and Nick were guilty of not thinking. He should have realized that, as Tom Barkley's son, Victoria would see it sooner or later. Not knowing how long she'd known, Heath was left to wonder why when she found out and, if it had been more than a couple of days, why she'd waited so long. For Nick's part, why couldn't the man have waited until Heath was at work? Before he could think of an answer, Heath heard two voices outside the saloon's window. Because the noise level was so high, the voices were barely understandable. Still, Heath heard every word.

"I don't know about this Lyman. Kilgore and Thayer are both sitting in jail right now. Sure, they haven't talked, but ain't we pushing our luck trying anything else for awhile? I mean, Kilgore was your friend, and you got Thayer to turn against the Barkleys because of his massive, secret, gambling debts, but whom else is there? Who else can you get? "

Heath sat up straight. He recognized the voice as that of Ethan Stoddard, a red headed twenty year old man who worked in the train yard. Heath cared little for the man, as Ethan was famous for doing as little as possible when working. In fact, many people said the man did just enough to keep his job. He never went out of his way to help anyone either. He had a twenty-nine year black haired brother named Lyman. Was he talking to him or to another man? Heath got his answer the moment the other man started speaking.

"Maybe we are, maybe we aren't!" Lyman Stoddard growled at his brother. "But we both lost out on a lot of money when we lost that fight against the farmers. Remember, the railroad promised us a large sum of money if we sold our land to them, but they took the offer back after the fight at Sample's farm!" Lyman took a deep breath and added, "We'd have won if those Barkleys hadn't stepped in, pulled them all together and fought with them! We'll just have to do the damage ourselves and find a way to get that girl!"

"Why can't we leave her alone?" Ethan asked. He liked Audra Barkley. She was nice and polite to him. Sure, she'd made it abundantly clear she wasn't interested in him. Still, he wasn't so upset by her rejection to want anything to happen to her.

Heath heard the sound of someone getting slapped; he could guess who it was too. Lyman start talking after the sound of the slap faded.

"Are you kidding!" Lyman couldn't believe his ears. Ethan had lost just as much money as he had. What was his problem? "I have connections, men to who I owe a lot of money. With that blond hair and blue eyes of hers, I could sell that gal for a decent amount of money down in Mexico and pay those men off. We'll find some men to work with us and give it another shot! For that matter," Lyman said as he laughed insanely, "maybe we'll just do the job ourselves, save ourselves more money that way!" Though, even as he spoke the words Lyman knew he'd have to get a couple, men who knew the best and fastest way to Mexico well.

Heath found his blood boiling, as he heard the two men outside hurrying away. No one was going to lay a hand on Audra! That is, not if he had a say in it. Besides, he had a promise to keep. He drank down the last of his beer, hurried out the saloon door and mounted his horse. Since the law would be unable to do anything…as it would be his word against the Stoddard's, Heath headed for the ranch.

As he rode faster than he'd ever ridden in his life, Heath began to think on the Stoddard brothers and the other men they might get to join them. He thought on everything men like that would be willing to do, to those who fought on the other side. Since he wasn't going back on his word, he knew the Stoddards would, sooner or later, pose a threat to his children as he was sure the brothers would us them against him. Thinking along those lines, Heath decided there was only one thing he could do to protect his children and keep his promise to Mrs. Barkley and Jarrod. He just hoped Mrs. Stokes would go for it.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N A few of Jarrod's words at the end of the chapter are ones I've taken from Victoria off Palms of Glory…only I twisted them to fit Jarrod instead of his mother and put them into his, Jarrod's, own little speech to Heath.

**Chapter Seventeen****  
**  
"How could you?" Victoria's voice was louder than Nick's, while the anger in her eyes spilled out in bucketfuls. She'd learned where her middle son had been too late. "I told you what happened! I told you what your father confessed! My word, Nick! You're father might have been a good man; however, he was still human! He did wrong and was sorry for it!" Victoria hadn't been so upset in a long time. Heath and his children belonged here with them, not alone somewhere else. "Just before I found out what happened, I sent word to Heath I wanted to see him. He wasn't home, but I was going to send for him again. I wanted to discuss the matter myself! Now I wonder if he'll even listen!"

Nick stood, head slightly down, as his mother laid into him some more. His mother wasn't telling him anything he didn't know, only he'd been so angry, wanted so badly to have proof his mother was mistaken about his father; siring a child outside his marriage.

Jarrod, who had wound up staying home when he received notice the business he had in San Francisco had been postponed, stood next to the window and remained silent. He was looking through the glass and saw Heath off in the distance riding towards the main house. Since Mr. Thomson was riding his horse hard, Jarrod grew alarmed. He stepped away just as his mother was telling Nick that he needed to find a way to mend 'that bridge' before Heath took his children and left.

"I think the matter might have to wait." Jarrod startled both his mother and hot headed brother as he practically ran to the front door. "Heath is heading this way and he looks like he's been pushing his horse over hot coals."

Nick frowned and followed his brother outside, as did Victoria. By the time the three got within five feet of the fence, Heath was flying off his horse and standing in front of Jarrod. It passed no one that he wouldn't even look at Nick.

"What's wrong?" Jarrod asked concerned with the urgent look that was upon Heath's face. Nick and Victoria shared Jarrod's concern.

"Where's Audra?" Heath replied, not surprised to see the shock that came upon the lawyer's face.

"Why?" Nick barked without meaning too. He wasn't surprised when Heath continued to look at Jarrod, though he did answer Nick's question.

"She's still in danger." Heath answered.

"She's upstairs." Victoria answered; relieved her daughter had not gone to the orphanage as she usually did on Tuesdays. "What is going on?" The tone in her voice was just sharp enough to tell Heath he'd best not drag his feet in answering.

Heath explained where'd he been and what he'd heard. "Lyman was serious. He means to sell Audra down in Mexico. He can do it too. Unlike his brother, that man has more contacts that a man can shake his fist at and has more than once source from which he gets cash flow. Rumor has it he'll do anything to 'climb the ladder'." He added as he finished talking. "I would have had it out with him, but he was out of sight before I got out of the saloon. Going to the sheriff would have been useless too. I mean, it would be their word against mine."

"Lyman Stoddard," Jarrod and Nick both said the names at the same time, "We should have known that man was involved somehow." Heath was right; that man did have more than one source of cash flow, and both men suspected a good portion of that money had been obtained illegally.

Nick then stiffened as he remembered everything he'd ever seen when it came to the Stoddard's, along with everything he'd heard them say. He might have issues with his late father; however, Nick didn't want to see Heath or any of his children hurt by those men. "If they saw you, if they realized you're warning us…." He paused not knowing if Heath would take his words as an insult to his intelligence. He needn't have worried.

For the first time since riding up to the ranch, Heath turned to look at Nick. The same steel like appearance was in his eyes that Nick had seen earlier. Nick winced, but not so much that anyone really noticed. "You don't need to worry about my hide, _brother_," Heath spat the word brother off in a tone of sarcasm, not realizing just how much it really hurt Nick or the others. "As far as my children go," Heath paused as he hated what he'd had to do, hated not actually being with his children. In that moment, he also caught sight of genuine pain shoot through Nick's eyes. It was the first time Heath realized Nick was genuinely concerned about Leah and Bryon. It threw Heath off, but only for a second and he continued talking, "Mrs. Stokes has taken them with her and no," he said as he saw shock spread over the Barkley's faces, "they're not going back to Modesto. I have no doubt those men would go to Modesto to hurt them to get back at me for standing by you. And," he looked at Nick with a slightly softened glare, "It doesn't matter where I had Mrs. Stokes take them. Now," Heath looked back a Jarrod, "I don't know what they plan on doing to damage any part of this land, but I do know Lyman is determined to get Audra, one way or the other."

Out of the corner of his eye, Nick could see his mother, who had turned her back to Heath in order to go to her daughter, sending him a message with her eyes. _"Make this right or else!"_ Nick didn't know if he could or not, but for the sake of his mother and two four and half year children-especially Leah, he decided to give it his best shot.

Heath started to leave only to find Nick asking him and Jarrod to stay. A portion of Heath wanted nothing more to do with Nick, the other part told him to listen, if for no other reason than for the sake of his daughter, who had begged him to make sure Nick was okay, though he wondered why Jarrod had been asked to remain where he was. Unless, Heath had to chuckle quietly to himself, it was so the two of them would have a referee if needed.

"What is it?" Heath asked as he folded his arms, his face expressionless.

Nick felt more than a little bit more than awkward. He might have backed out of having this talk with Mr. Thomson only how could he? His mother was already boiling mad at him, and he kept seeing Leah standing in the barn crying, tears rolling down her cheeks. "About what I said earlier, what happened…." Nick shifted his weight and put his hands on his hips, still feeling defensive. "Look, I know my father was human. Yes, he made mistakes…it's just that…" Nick scowled and then snapped, "You never said a word when we met you, never said a word when we hired you, and you've never showed us any proof! If you're Tom Barkley's son, why stay silent?"

For a moment, Heath said nothing. How could he? Nick had brought up some very valid points. Finally, he unfolded his arms and relaxed just a little. "Because, up to a few weeks ago I didn't know who my father was." Heath answered. "However, I knew showing anyone the proof I had found and fighting for my rightful name meant a fight and that a fight would mean…" he stopped as he also remembered Leah.

Nick didn't wait for Heath to finish his sentence; he didn't have to. He already knew what the blond haired cowboy was going to say. "A fight meant exposing the children to the fight." He felt an inch high as he finished. He should have known the children's well being were at the core of this man's silence. The conversation might have continued, only Nick saw his mother out of the corner of his eye, his sister was by her side. "Mother wanted to talk to you, and I think we have the right to see the proof you say you found." Nick said as he turned and hurried over to his mother and sister.

Jarrod, who had said nothing during the conversation, now spoke up. His voice had a tone in it that reminded Heath of the times Gideon Stokes had spoken to him on serious matters. "He was an imperfect man my father and, in so many ways that could hurt. But, he never destroyed; he built where he could. He did his best to teach me, to teach all his children courage, pride and leadership." Jarrod paused, looked even closer at Heath and said, "If you have the proof you say you do, if you do indeed have my father's blood running through your veins, I'd think twice about leavin'. Any son of my father's is entitled to his name and the support of this family, even if it means fighting everyone around him to acknowledge that right." Jarrod then gave him a small smile and walked away.

Heath wasn't sure he wanted to show anyone the letter his mother had written, wasn't even sure why he continued to save it. Still, he could show them the newspaper clipping, along with his mother's bible. Her bible had wound up having his birth information in the back; she had written _Tom Barkley-father_ next to his name a few years after his birth. As he thought on it and Jarrod's words, Heath's resolve to take his children and leave, once the Stoddard matter taken care of, began to fade just a little.


	18. He's a Barkley

**Chapter Eighteen**

Nick leaned against the mantle of the fireplace, being careful not to get too close to the first fire it had had in it for quite a few months, while Jarrod and Audra sat on the sofa, and Victoria sat on a chair in the living room. The Barkleys were waiting for Heath, who had ridden to the home he and his children had been using since they arrived on the ranch to get the proof his brothers had asked to see.

"What proof do you think he has?" Audra looked at her mother; the tension that Audra was feeling was written in her eyes and heard in her voice.

"I don't know; I only believe that he has proof and it is important for him to reveal it." Victoria answered as she looked from her daughter to Nick. Her middle son was turning a small wooden whistle over and over in his hand. Heath had given it to McCall to give to Nick just before he, Heath, had ridden off. Victoria couldn't help but think her middle son was fiddling with it to give himself a way to get rid of his nervous energy. "It doesn't matter to me though; no matter what it is, I already know the facts. I don't need any further proof." Her voice wasn't raised but it was hard, one would have to be more than a bit daft not to catch the fact she was still very highly agitated.

Nick and Jarrod felt the sting of an indirect rebuke and knew their mother was highly upset that they'd requested to see the evidence Heath had found. Because both men noticed it was Nick whom his mother was looking at when she made her statement, they knew she was more upset with him than anyone. They didn't have to ask why; they knew. Nick was the main force demanding proof. However, before either one of them could say a word as a knock came on the door.

Silas, who had just walked out of the dining room, answered it. No one was surprised to see Heath step inside. "Hello, Silas." Heath nodded, walked into the living room and handed his mother's bible to Jarrod because he was the closest to him. The newspaper clipping was poking out of the back of the book.

An uncomfortable silence reined as the oldest Barkley son opened the bible to the place where the clipping was. Soon Jarrod had the paper in one hand and was looking at the birth information with its added information in the other. He said nothing as he stood up, walked over to Nick and handed him the items, who looked them over. When his mother asked him for the items, Nick then handed them to her.

Victoria glanced at the items and then back at Nick. "Do you still doubt me?"

Nick, while bent out of shape that actual proof actually existed, looked from his mother, to Heath and then back to his mother. "No mother,"

Victoria put the newspaper clipping back into its place. Seeing no use to waste time discussing the matter, she changed subjects. "With the Stoddard brothers planning problems for us," she looked at her children and then at Heath, "we will all have to keep our eyes and ears wide open."

"Yes, mother," Jarrod answered as he stood up. Turned to leave the room, he looked at Heath, "Welcome to the family, Heath." He gave the blond haired cowboy a kind smile and then walked away.

Audra quietly welcomed Heath and then left, feeling rather upset at the feeling she'd tried to get her own half brother to think seriously courting her.

Victoria looked at Nick, who was again rolling the whistle McCall had given him in his hand. She could see the war that Nick was still having inside of him. She wasn't surprised. Out of all her children, Nick had been the one to have his father on the highest point of a pedestal he could. "Nick?"

Nick slid the whistle into his pocket. "There's still work to be done around this ranch and at least two men determined to harm us in more than one way. I suggest we get to work and keep alert." He growled as he walked past Heath. While his words didn't acknowledge anything one way or the other, Heath had seen all of the emotions in the world running through his half brother's mind. One of the men's idol's had just been tarnished; the wound it left would take time to heal.

When all of her other children were gone, Victoria stood up and handed Heath the bible back. Her own emotions, which had been suppressed, now came out in her eyes as she began speaking. She then shocked Heath by confessing everything. "I didn't know whether or not you were indeed Tom's son until you walked through the door. And then…" she sighed and stopped speaking for a moment.

"And then you were still obligated by your promise to give me time before approaching the matter." Heath spoke with his poker face still in place. While he felt bad she'd had to suffer the loss of her children, understood her position when it came to her marriage, admired her for keeping her promise, Heath still highly resented Tom Barkley. The man's lies to Heath's mother and the fact that the man had never checked to see how she was doing were inexcusable. The man would have known had he swallowed his pride and simple followed up to see what, if any, consequences had come because of his actions.

Victoria nodded, stood up and shocked him once more. "I know about the fight in the barn. I know what was said." She shook her head slightly. "Nick has acted before he thought on many an occasion, but it's always been in defense of those he loves very much." She again paused and then said as she laid her hand on his upper arm. "You are already proving what kind of a man you, coming here to warn us. Because you sent your children away, someplace to keep them safe from this mess, I assume you are also staying to help fight those men if necessary."

Heath said nothing but slightly nodded in reply.

"I can't make you bring them back, nor can I make you stay once this is over with. However, I can and will say this much..." Victoria let the tears well in her eyes, but didn't let them stop her from rolling her shoulders back and holding her head high. "If you were my son, I'd tell you stand your ground and fight for your place here on this ranch once this ordeal is over with. If you do that then, in time, Nick will defend and help you just as much as he does the rest of us. Your place_ is_ here with us, not out there in the world where you have no family. That is," Victoria sighed, "if you'll let us be your family." She then lowered her hand and quit speaking.

Jarrod's word again rang in Heath's ear. In between Jarrod's words and Mrs. Barkley's, Heath's resolve to relocate somewhere else once the Stoddard brothers were stopped was another step closer to fading away. However, when it came to his children's current placement, he wasn't budging an inch. "No matter what I decide, the children stay where they're at for the moment." Heath said politely.

As much as Victoria wanted to beg him to bring the children back to the ranch, she understood all too well his desire to protect them. That being the case, she simply acknowledged his pride and decision with a nod of understanding and then walked slowly out of the room.

Once she was gone, Heath made his way over to the fireplace, pulled out his mother's letter. After reading it one more time, he whispered, "I couldn't show them this. It's not like they can give you the answers to your questions and the 'good man' isn't around to help me understand." He took a deep breath and added, "I don't know why you kept this mama, but it can never see the light of day again. I'm sorry." He tossed the paper into the fire, watched it wither away in the heat and turned around. Like Nick said, there was still work to do and men that they needed to keep an eye out for.


	19. A Talk with Leah

**A/N** I got thinking and realized if I was reading this I'd want to know what on earth Heath did with his children. I guess the muse agreed, but this came quite fast. No one dies or is hurt physically; still, you still might want to keep a tissue handy. It's still a tear jerker.

**Chapter Nineteen**

Mrs. Stokes stood in a nice three bedroom home near the San Francisco Bay; it belonged to her distant cousin and friend, Susan Bradford. Mrs. Stokes watched as Bryon played quietly with his toys. She couldn't help but smile as the boy seemed so content with what he was doing. However, when she turned her attention to Leah the smile turned to a concerned frown. The young girl sat in the bay window, leaning against the glass. She'd been sitting there for a couple of hours simply staring outside. Mrs. Stokes' mind ran back to the moment, she and the children were sitting on the couch in the Thomson's home.

_"Heath! I thought you were going to be in town for awhile?" Mrs. Stokes stood up from the couch. Since Heath hadn't been gone that long, she was confused._

_ Heath didn't answer her as he knelt in front of Byron, who was playing with his wooden soldiers. "Hey slugger, how about takin' these toys into your bedroom for a few moments?"_

_ Bryon didn't want to move, but he picked up his toys and stood up. "Yes, papa," the child then went to join his sister who was already in the bedroom playing. Heath wasn't surprised when he stood up and saw the look of worry that had taken its place upon his friend's face._

_ "Heath? What's wrong?" Mrs. Stokes braced herself, not knowing what to expect._

_ "Didn't you say once you had a cousin in San Francisco?" He asked quietly, not wanting his children to overhear this part of the conversation._

_ That one question had Mrs. Stokes on high alert. She had mentioned such a thing at one time; she'd also flat out stated she'd only talk to, or go to, that cousin if it was a downright emergency. "Yes, I did." She answered as she stiffened and braced herself. "Why?"_

_ Heath explained what he'd overheard. "I am going to warn the Barkleys; I don't want the children around until those men are dead or in jail." Heath told her. "I need you to take the children away to safety until I send for you." _

_ "Is that really necessary? They're after the Barkley's not you." _

Mrs. Stokes still recalled how shocked she'd been when Heath had confessed what he'd found out and exactly what the fight in the barn had been about. "_That is why I was hoping you'd take them. No one would ever think of looking there. It's not like you are looking forward to returning to Modesto."_ He said that because she'd told him the night before that, since Jack had taken over the ranch, it seemed like foreign country and not her home anymore.

For the sake of protecting the children from whatever Mr. Stoddard and his brother were planning, Mrs. Stokes had relented and packed her and the children's bag while Heath went into to talk with Leah and Bryon. Mrs. Stokes could still hear Bryon asking question and Leah begging her father to be careful and to, please, not fight with Cowboy Nick again.

Now, looking at Leah, Mrs. Stokes was still very concerned for the child. Walking though the living room, the older woman sat down next to her. Leah didn't turn her head when Mrs. Stokes joined her, though she did break the silence that hung in the room when she sighed and said, "Too many people, too many houses, there's not enough space." It was a statement that did not surprise the older woman. Ever since this child had learned to walk and talk, she'd made it known by her words and actions she loved wide open spaces. "Where's papa? Why isn't he coming? Did he go to join mama?" Leah looked up at the woman she knew as "Grandma Stokes".

Mrs. Stokes felt her heart jump into her throat as she fought to control her voice as she answered the young child. "No, Leah, he's back in Stockton. It's like he and I told you before; there are things going on you're too young to understand. He asked me to bring you here until he can send for you again."

"When is he going to tell you to take us back?" Leah's eyes were sad and a tear slipped down her cheek as she asked the question. She wanted to feel the safety both her father and Cowboy Nick seemed to hold for her. In fact, truth be told, she just wanted to be back with her father and the Barkley's period.

"I don't know." Mrs. Stokes picked the child up and sat her on her lap. "But I can promise you, it will be as soon as possible. It's just better for you and Bryon to be with me, here, right now." Not knowing what the men Heath had talked about were planning, all she could was hope Heath and the Barkleys would be able to take care of the matter as soon as possible.

Leah didn't like it. If it was better for her and Bryon, why had her father stayed behind? Wouldn't it be better for him to be with them too? Being too young to be told, or understand even if she had been told, the true situation, she felt fear fill her heart. With this being the case, she wrapped her arms around her caretaker's neck and cried softly, "Do you think Papa gave Cowboy Nick his whistle? I gave papa his." she sniffled and scrubbed at her tears.

"I'm sure he did." Mrs. Stokes and then, thinking to change the subject, asked if Leah wanted to make a whistle for her brother.

"Yeah, I guess so." Leah answered quietly as she looked up at Mrs. Stokes and proved that she wasn't going to be distracted her train of thought. "Papa and Cowboy Nick are my friends; they should be friends too. I want papa! I want my Cowboy Nick!" Leah burst into tears.

Not knowing what else to do, Mrs. Stokes simply moved herself and the child into the rocking chair her cousin had placed in the living room and rocked the child. Only when Leah had relaxed and fallen asleep did Mrs. Stokes stand up, walk into a nearby bedroom and lay the sleeping child onto the bed. "Lord, I don't know for sure how things work." Mrs. Stokes looked upwards. "Please, can't you do something to make it so these children can be reunited with their father?" She turned and looked out the bedroom door. From where she stood, Mrs. Stokes could see Bryon. She was shocked, but not surprised, to see a couple of tears escaping down his cheeks also. Sighing, she went to give what comfort she could to a boy who was much like his father in many ways, a human who was too quiet and held his feelings too well hidden. All she could do was hope her prayer would be answered soon.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter Twenty**

It was almost dark when Lyman and Ethan reached the small cabin that set a few feet inside the property lines of the Barkley's ranch surrounded by a couple of trees; only they thought it was a good hundred yards away from the boundary line. Because of this, they felt rather safe using it. After thinking it over, Lyman had sent a telegram down to Hazard; he knew someone down there that could help them. Afterwards Lyman and Ethan had wasted no time in making their way to the shack Ethan had found. They hoped the two men Lyman had sent for would meet them at the cabin soon. Lyman looked around the main room. There was a small table, two chairs, a pot belly stove and a few cupboards. A small room holding two cots set on the other side of a door near the potbelly stove.

"Where are we going to put the girl when we get her?" He barked not even trying to hide his annoyance. If they kept Audra in the cabin for any length of time, one of them would have to sleep on the floor. Out of the two brothers, Lyman was the one who hated being 'put out' the most.

"If we get her, why stay here?" Ethan rolled his eyes as he answered. "You said you had connections. Once we get that pretty little gal, let's high tail it to Mexico." Since he wasn't in love with pushing their luck anymore than they were already doing, Ethan figured it was the best idea there was.

Lyman turned on his brother. "Stop saying **if** we get her!" He had listened to his brother say that phrase one too many times and was tired of it. They had to get her. His connections paid a high price for blonde hair, blue eyed girls. With the money he'd lost after Sample's, Lyman was determined to make the money up while getting revenge on the Barkley's at the same time.

Because he'd been trailing Audra as much as he possibly could, Ethan yelled at his brother. "I will say if! That young girl is constantly chaperoned! How on earth are we going to get her without adding murder to the list of things we're willing to do?" His face was beet red by the time he finished speaking.

Lyman, who had been thinking on that very thing, paced back and forth over the shack's floor. He realized that he'd messed up by not making a second attempt sooner, before she had been given what looked to be a bodyguard. Not knowing his and his brother's conversation had been overhead, he could only wonder what had made it so Audra had a man with her at all times. "We'll find a way!" Lyman slammed his fist down upon the table with one cuss after another. "For now, let's eat something and make our plans!" He said with an evil grin on his face.

**~oOo~ **

Lyman was standing on the porch of the small cabin when Kyle and Frank Anders rode up. He watched as both men dismounted and then stood before him. After receiving Lyman's wire, Kyle had grabbed one of his relatives and hurried to get to the cabin Lyman had mentioned. Kyle Ander's stood five feet four inches with a thin build. His brown hair hung to his neckline and he sported the ugliest thin brown mustache in the world. If he had any sense, the man would have shaved it off when it first appeared on his face. To look at him, many people would think he wasn't capable of much. However, appearances can be deceiving. Kyle was strong as an ox and had been in more brawls than anyone could count. He'd also done time behind bars. His cousin wasn't much better. While the five foot eight inch, brown haired Frank hadn't spent time behind bars, he had a very well founded reputation as a troublemaker and had been thrown out of the saloons he patronized more than once. In fact, people were stretching the truth and saying the man was just a step away from being barred from any saloon indefinitely.

"About time you two got here; you're late!" Lyman snapped, though he kept himself from raising his voice. He might have done just that, raised his voice, but he'd known Kyle Anders long enough to know the man would turn on him if he thought Lyman had gotten it into his head that he, Lyman, owned him.

"Couldn't be helped," Kyle hooked his thumbs onto belt buckle, "we had to hide a couple of times. There were a couple of men, a dark haired gentleman and a blonde haired chap, both looked to be cowboys; they were riding around. They seemed to be looking for something or someone." He looked at Lyman and Ethan with concern in his eyes. "I don't know exactly where the Barkley spread ends; I admit that. Still, are you sure you're outside their boundary line?"

Lyman, who never admitted he was in the wrong unless there was no way around it, exploded. "Of course, I'm sure! Do you really think I'd be waiting for you here, at this cabin, if it was on their land?" He glared at the men as he fell in silence. The look on his face was one that dared them to say he was wrong. Of course, no one did.

"So, where do we go from here?" Frank asked, impatient to get this job down and get down to Mexico. It wasn't just Lyman that had plans when it came to Mexico.

"First thing we do," Lyman said as he looked around to make sure no outsider had accidentally stumbled upon them, "is to get inside where can make sure there's no chance of someone actually coming by and over hearing anything." He answered as he disappeared into the cabin. Ethan and the two hired men wasted no time following Lyman inside the cabin to talk. As far as they were concerned the sooner they got any discussion over with, the sooner they could get the job started and finished. Once inside the four men sat around the table while Lyman told Kyle and Fred the plan he and Ethan had come up with.


	21. Captured, Fire and Search begins

**Chapter Twenty-One**

Audra, who had grown tired of constantly having somebody with her, snuck quietly down the stairs and made her way out the front door. Since she was simply going to the barn to check on her horse, she didn't see why she would need anyone with her. Besides, the sun had long since set. Who in their right mind would be out on a night like this?

Kyle and Frank Adams, who had just finished dousing the barn with kerosene, hurried and hid themselves when they heard someone coming. Because they'd seen Jarrod board a train earlier in the day, and it was so late at night now, they hadn't expected anyone to be out and about this time of night. When Audra walked in, they couldn't believe their luck, especially since she stopped not two feet in front of Kyle.

Audra, who became alarmed when she smelled the kerosene, turned to hurry back into the house only to find Kyle's one hand over her mouth and the other one around her waist. She might have fought him only Frank had also appeared with a gun in his hand. "Lyman's going to love this! She just saved us a lot of time! He won't have to worry about taking any risks getting this pretty filly now." He chuckled softly as he managed to slip a bandana in between Kyle's hand and Audra's mouth. The men then secured her arms behind her back. "Get her out of her now! I'll give you fifteen minutes before I light this thing on fire and then hightail it out of here."

Fear ran through Audra as Kyle began pulling her towards the opened door. She began struggling to get free, but it did no good. Before she could stop it, Kyle had gotten her behind the barn and up onto his horse, with him sitting right behind her. "Looks like our trip to Mexico is going to happen sooner than planned," He nudged his horse forward, but did not actually push the animal into a slow gallop before they were quite a ways from the house. Fifteen minutes later, Frank lit a match and then high tailed it away himself.

Nick, who was having troubling sleeping, awoke for what seem to be the tenth time that night, though it was only actually three times, and sat straight up. From his window, he could see the flames leaping up from the barn. "FIRE!" He yelled as he flew out of bed, into his pants and out the bedroom door.

He continued yelling waking up his mother and Heath, who had under Victoria's insistence, moved into the main house until the trouble with the Stoddard brothers was over. Both of them came running out of their rooms and followed Nick down the stairs. By the time they got to the barn, McCall and a lot of the ranch hands were running back and forth, throwing bucketfuls of water onto the fire. A good thirty minutes later, the fire was out and the damage was being assessed.

"How did they get past our guards! That's what I want to know!" Nick bellowed as he silent cursed both he and Heath for sleeping, both men had taken their turn at playing night guards the night before.

"They killed them." McCall shocked Nick as he walked up and answered the question. "We found Mike and Adam dead over there." He pointed off to his left, towards more than one pile of empty crates.

"The son of a…" Nick started to swear only to stiffen and fear run through his veins, as did Heath. Victoria's screams could be heard coming from the house. Nick and Heath looked at each other, both having the same thought. Audra! Both men took off at a dead run towards the house leaving McCall to help with the clean up.

By the time Nick and Heath reached the house, Victoria was coming out the front door. "She's gone! Audra's not in her room! She's gone!"

Nick let out a string of cuss words while Heath cursed under his breath. Since they didn't know Audra had snuck out of the house, they were again cursing themselves for allowing themselves the luxury of sleeping. Though, if the truth was told, they wouldn't have been able to stay awake if they had tried. Both men had simply been too worn out to do so.

"Stay here mother; we'll find her!" Nick turned and ran to saddle up Coco, who McCall had been able to get out of the barn safely.

Heath said nothing only he too hurried to get to his horse. If Nick thought he was going alone, the man had another thing coming. It didn't matter if Heath still had a war going on inside himself, he wasn't about to just stand aside while there was the danger of Audra being taken to Mexico and sold. Both brothers were just getting ready to mount when McCall, who had stepped out from behind the barn called out for him to stop.

"You need to look at this!" McCall was holding up something up in his hand. Nick wasted no time in hurrying over to where the foreman stood; Heath was right behind him.

Nick and Heath's eyes widened. McCall held a small pocket knife in his hand, though the carving on it was as large as possible. On one side was the name Kyle, on the other side the name of Anders. Nick grabbed the pocket knife and barked, "I don't know any Kyle Anders! Lyman's got to have hired him!" Nick was shocked when Heath spoke up, his voice as cold as ice during the dead of winter.

"If he's related to a man by the name of Gil Anders, I wouldn't be surprised if you're right. The man would be no good if I'm correct."

Nick turned on Heath and snapped. "Who's that?"

If it wasn't for the fact that Heath knew how scared Nick was for Audra, Heath might have taken offense at the way Nick had looked at him or the tone he'd used. As it was, Heath started looking around as he answered. "A gentleman who looks out only for himself, as does the majority of his family." By the time Heath finished, he was kneeling down on the ground looking at some fresh tracks.

Nick, who had moved quickly, stood next to Heath looking down. "We didn't bring any of the horses out of the barn this way."

"They have to belong to the ones who started the fire and…" Heath said as he paused.

"And took Audra," Nick finished the sentence for him. He looked up at the moon hanging in the sky and then at Heath. Since the man was his brother, he could ride during the night to help him, Nick, find their sister. "I know it's late; still, the full moon will give us plenty of light to guide us and, with no wind, we can also carry torches to help see anything that might stay hidden."

Heath wondered how much luck they'd have even with the advantages Nick stated, only he sure wasn't going to argue and stand by doing nothing either. He turned around and headed back towards Charger.

Nick then turned to their foreman and spoke with great urgency in his voice. "Please, go tell my mother what Heath found and what we're doing. Have men start searching the ranch also! Whoever did this and took Audra can't be that far away!" He turned to James, Carl and Bart, three dark haired ranch hands that had worked for them for quite some time. "You three come with us."

"Yes sir, Mr. Barkley," McCall headed for the house as Nick and Heath and the three ranch hands hurried to their horses. It wasn't long before the two brothers and their help were following tracks Kyle and Frank had had no time to cover up.


	22. Chapter 22

**Thicker Than Water **

**Chapter Twenty Two**

Heath knelt on the ground looking at the tracks they'd been following for the past hour. Even with the light of the full moon and the light that their torches gave off, their efforts at trailing Audra was slower than they'd have liked. The pressure they felt was immense… made worse by the uneasy truce that now existed between him and Nick.

Nick, who had been keeping an eye on the man his heart still thought of as Mr. Thomson, even if his logic said different, was troubled by the look he saw in Heath's eyes as the man stood up, as were the men with them. Heath had seen or thought of something. "What is it?"

Heath stood up and mounted his horse before answering. "Mr. Anders isn't alone. He's joined up with a second rider."

While Nick and the others didn't like that, they weren't surprised either. A man who would set a barn on fire and be involved in a kidnapping seldom worked alone. At least, from what Nick had seen in the past he wouldn't. He didn't spend but a few seconds on his musings; how could he? Nick, Heath and the other men didn't have time to waste. Soon the five of them were back to doing what they could to follow the tracks, which were clear enough in the light of the moon and the flames of the torches he and Heath carried. Twenty minutes later, Nick realized where the tracks might be leading, and so he put out the flame of his torch.

"What are you doing?" Heath asked confused, as he watched the flame of Nick's torch go out. Why was his half brother dousing the extra light?

"Put yours out, too." Nick ordered as he looked at Heath and the ranch hands with them, while he explained to Heath about the cabin his family had on their land, but seldom used. "These tracks are leading in that direction. And," he said as he looked around, "we're roughly only two miles from it."

Heath didn't have to ask what that had to do with anything. He knew. He also wondered if Nick was right; if the men who had set the barn on fire and taken Audra had already noticed the light of the torches. Of course, having no way to find out, all he could do was to follow Nick as the man pressed Coco forward. The silence that hung among the small group as they traveled was deafening. Each man had their mind on Audra and the fact they just knew Lyman Stoddard was behind all this. Was Lyman with the men who had taken Audra or was he waiting for them; waiting to take Audra down to Mexico and sell her like someone's piece of property? Just the thought made all the men sick.

** ~oOo~  
**  
Audra sat on the chair Lyman had instructed her to sit on, before he stepped out the front door and started talking with Ethan and Frank. Kyle remained in the open doorway, keeping an ear on the conversation that was taking place and an eye on their captive. His gun was in his hand. Kyle and Frank had been more than happy to enlighten Audra as to Lyman's plans for her. Audra was praying like crazy that her brothers would be able to pick up on the men's trail and find her soon.

Her brothers…Audra couldn't help but let out a very soft sigh as she thought on Nick and Heath. Nick had always been there for her, ready to fight for her if necessary. Time and time again, he'd helped her. How she wished she'd listened to him when he told her to go to bed and to stay in bed. Her mind then turned to Heath. After the initial shock of finding out Heath was her half brother, she remembered how she'd grown up saying she felt as if someone was missing from the family; there was such a huge gap between her and her older brothers and had made the comment to Gene more than once. Jarrod and Nick had simply told her to accept the fact that their parents weren't having any more children. That feeling...The feeling that someone was missing, had never really gone away. She couldn't help but wonder if someone had been doing their best to prepare her for the day this missing brother would be joining the family. She was jolted out of her thoughts, as Lyman's laugh and words carried through the open door.

"Don't worry 'bout Miss Barkley!" Lyman yelled, as he turned on Frank who was insisting that the young woman would bolt first chance she got. "Before we leave here, I'll make sure she understands who is boss!" He made sure his voice was firm and sharp, sending a clear message that he meant business.

Audra wasn't sure exactly what the meant, only the way all the men laughed, along with the way Kyle Anders looked at her, Audra fought the panic that gripped at her heart; fearing what the man might intend to do. _"Please, hurry, Nick, Heath." _

** ~oOo~**

Hurrying was something that Nick, Heath and the other men were doing as much as they could, not easy considering that on top of no longer having lit torches, a lone cloud had partially covered up the full moon. Nick, Heath and the other men were grateful when they came to the top of the hill that set off to the side of the cabin. From where they sat they could see the position of all four men, and thanks to the lamp that sat on the cabin's table they could be seen through the window to where Audra was.

"Four of them, five of us, boss," James, the youngest of the ranch hands, spoke loud enough to be heard by the men he was riding with, but low enough to keep his voice from carrying down to the cabin. "We can take them." The comment got disbelieving looks from every single man with him.

"We go barging down there and they're bound to hightail it inside and use Audra as a shield! No, we need something to distract some them." Nick barked as quietly as he could; he didn't want his loud voice alerting the men who had his sister to his presence anymore than James had.

"They've got to have horses." Heath spoke up. I could make my way around to the other side of the cabin and see. If they do, I can free them. Once they realized their horses are loose, Audra's captors would have to chase them. Well, at least one would have to."

Knowing what risks Heath would be taking, and what Victoria would do to him if he didn't at least do what he could to protect his new brother, Nick looked at Carl, the oldest of the ranch hands, "Go with him, please."

"Yes, sir," Carl answered as Heath pulled the reins in his hands to one side and turned his horse around. After the two men left, Nick and the men with him continued to keep an eye on the men outside the cabin. However, they could no longer see Audra; she'd moved onto one of the beds when Kyle had decided they were better off with the young lady away from the window. Unlike Lyman, Ethan and Frank, Kyle was still very uncomfortable with the choices their leader had made.


	23. Rescue

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

Heath and Carl, who had tethered their horses far enough away from the cabin so as to keep them out of view, made their way quietly, but quickly, to the kidnappers horses they saw tethered near the cabin. They held their breaths as they drew closer, doing their best not to spook the animals. Spooking them was the last thing either man wanted to do. Ethan, Kyle and Frank, were still standing on the front porch with Lyman. The four men were arguing over the fact that Kyle still felt they'd been better off simply taking off the moment he and Frank got back. They stopped talking when Lyman, who had been in on the fight, raised his hand to silence them and turned his head slightly, as if to listen to something else.

"What is it?" Kyle asked, as he looked around

"I thought I heard something." Lyman answered, and then he began walking to the side of the porch only to gasp and let out a string of cuss words when he realized what he was hearing; his brother and the others did the same.

"The horses!" Ethan screamed and yelled, "Someone's letting the horses loose!"

Realizing the man was speaking the truth had the other men running around the side of the cabin. They could see their horses galloping up the side of the hill and disappearing and Heath and Carl still standing where the horses had been. Lyman let out a string of cuss words as he pointed his pistol at the two men. If he hadn't cursed so loudly, Lyman might have succeeded in shooting either Heath or Carl. As it was, the two men jumped behind the trees as Lyman pulled the trigger. Carl let out his own choice words as the bullet nicked the tree he had just hidden behind.

The moment the shooting between Audra's captors, Heath and Carl began, Nick and the men with him, who had moved closer to the cabin, pushed the horses forward as hard as they could. Before Lyman and his men knew it; they were in for the fight of their lives. Kyle, who had missed Nick by an inch when he tried shooting at him, bolted and disappeared inside the cabin. He slammed the door shut behind him, effectively leaving his comrades to do without any cover. Needless to say, the fight outside was over in a matter of seconds. Lyman, his brother and Frank all lay dead while James, who had taken a bullet to his arm, had dismounted and was hiding behind a medium sized bush as Bart helped him stop the bleeding.

"Back off," Kyle yelled as he dragged Audra over to the window and broke the glass belonging to one of bottom window panes in the large four squared window. "I've got this pretty filly here and I won't hesitate to shoot her."

"Let my sister go!" Nick bellowed from beside the house.

"No way, not until you get me a couple of horses, and we're clear of this place."

"Follow me," Heath told Carl as he saw the back door to the cabin. If he could get in there while Nick had the man distracted, he was sure he could stop this once and for all. When Heath ran for the back door, Carl was right behind him.

"What the…." Kyle whirled around and pulled the trigger to his pistol when the door flew open. Heath took the bullet to his right shoulder, but he was still able to get a shot off before he fell. His bullet hit Kyle's leg, while Carl who had pulled his trigger the moment Heath had been hit shot the man square in the chest. Kyle stiffened, tried again to pull his trigger again, but dropped to the floor; dead. Nick and the men with him burst in through the front door a split second later.

"Are you okay?" Nick asked Audra.

While flattered that her brother's first thought was for her, Audra was still upset. "I'm not the one shot!" She ran and knelt beside Heath, who was now being tended to by Carl. "You didn't have to do that. You could have been killed!"

Heath gave her a lopsided grin and grimaced as Carl finished covered the wound. By this time Nick was standing next to him also looking down with a look of concern himself. "I was thinking the same thing. Why didn't you just wait? We could have flushed him out easy enough!" He barked to cover up the unsettling feeling he'd had come over him the moment he realized Heath had purposely done. His new brother had purposely put himself into a position where he knew he would run a high risk of being hurt in order to put an end to what could have very well been a long, drawn out fight. No coward, or someone who put himself first in everything, did anything like that.

Heath was helped to his feet by Carl and Audra, who was making sure she had a hold of him. Heath gave her the tiniest of smiles and answered Nick's question, "Never saw much use in taking hours to do something that could be done in minutes or seconds," he quipped, trying to ignore the burning pain in his shoulder.

Nick could say nothing to that as he'd felt the same way on many occasions. "Come on, you need a doctor and you," he looked at Audra, "can explain how those men got inside the house. I'd like to know where we went wrong."

Now it was Audra who was cringing as she knew what would happen once she confessed everything. "Let's get home first." She saw no reason to go through what was waiting for her from more than one member of the family, once she got home. She then watched as Nick helped Carl get Heath outside and onto his horse. Because he was in so much pain, and it was clearly showing, no one took the time to notice that the look in Heath's eyes wasn't just from the pain in his shoulder. If they had looked, and thought about it, they'd have seen the look of a man who knew he no longer had time to bounce between decisions. He had to decide once and for all where he was meant to live and if he'd fight for what rightfully belonged to a son of Tom Barkley.


	24. NIck and Audra

**Chapter Twenty Four**

Audra watched as Nick and the other men carried Heath, who had passed out on their way home, up the stairs to the bedroom Victoria had said would be his to use whenever he wanted. In fact, she said, _"If I have anything to say about it, he and his children will move out of that small house and in with us." _The truth was Victoria had longed to have her grandchildren stay in the main house for quite some time since discovering who they were.

Audra was about to follow them up when Nick barked at her to stay downstairs and just wait for him. "Why do you have to be in San Francisco, Jarrod?" She mumbled to herself, wishing her eldest brother was here. Sitting down on the sofa, Audra let her thoughts wander over the past couple of months. It was hard to believe that Heath had gone from mere employee to brother who she couldn't stand to lose in such a short time. Why had she allowed herself to let the stress of being constantly watched get to her; Heath was wounded now because of it. Only when Nick appeared in the living room did Audra turn her head.

The fact that he could see tears fighting to fall from his sister's eyes tempered Nick's fury at the thought that, somehow, Mr. Stoddard's man had gotten to his sister. He wasn't surprised when Audra looked from him, over to the stairs and then back to him.

"Mother's with him, and Dr. Merar will be here soon; I'm sure of that." Nick said as he sat down beside his sister, laying his hand on top of hers. "Heath will be fine."

"Will he?" Audra fought the fear that said she might lose the brother she was just beginning to know. "I shouldn't have…" she bowed her head slightly as she thought about the choice she'd made when she made a simple assumption that turned out to be so wrong, and the consequences that had followed.

Nick wasn't sure what his sister was going to say, but he pushed her to finish. "You shouldn't have what?" He spoke the question with somewhat of an edge, though it would've been worse had he not been fighting to control himself. Sensing this, gave Audra the courage to confess everything.

"I'm sorry," Audra burst into more tears as she finished telling how she'd slipped out of the house and been captured because of it. "I didn't think I was in any danger." If only she hadn't gone against her brothers' order… if only… two words that had a lot of 'buts'' in them.

Nick, who had stood up and walked over to the fireplace, had to bite his tongue hard before he turned around and faced his sister. While he understood where she was coming from, he also knew the fact that her decision, one that in the end led to Heath being wounded, had to be addressed. "You didn't think?" He snapped as he stepped away from fireplace and placed his hands on his hips. "I thought that was supposed to be my vice?" For a split second, both of them were giving each other extremely small smiles. Then Nick began to give her the lecture she'd feared.

"We told you those men were after you! When it came to nights, you were told we'd be keeping these doors locked, among other precautions. And, Young Lady..."

"Heath put himself in the position he did to save me! He never should have had to do that!" cried Audra as she add, "until the bullet's out and he's fully recovered his children still have a chance of becoming orphans!" She was sick with guilt.

Nick stopped barking, sighed and sat next to his sister once more, not liking the way Audra was beating herself up about all this. He was also sure she had received some rough treatment from her captives, a traumatic experience in itself. Nick took a deep breath and continued, "Yes, in a lot of ways you're right. Things would have been a lot easier if you had just done what you were told, but Heath didn't have to do what he did; the thing is he did… did what any of your brothers would have done." Nick suddenly stopped, taking to heart his own words ...any brother would have done. "Look," he started talking with his voice lowered, "I know you meant no harm. Let's just be glad you're okay, and pray Heath will be fine in time too."

Duly chastised, Audra nodded her head and practically whispered, "I hope so." She then shocked Nick when she looked up at him and asked quietly, "Do you think he'll bring Leah and Bryon back here? Do you think he'll stay?"

_"The moment this trouble is over, I'll pack our things and take my children away from this ranch! You will never see your niece again! And, like it or not, she __**is**__ your niece as I __**am **__your father's bastard son!" _Nick felt as if someone had hit him below the belt as the scene in the barn, the words Heath had spoken after Leah had been taken back into the home rang again in his ears.

"I don't know." Nick looked as if someone had poked a few holes in him and let the air out. "All we can do is let him know he doesn't have to leave." Would it be enough to get their half brother to stay? Nick didn't know, but it was the only honest answer he could think to give his sister. Only when McCall opened the front door and let Dr. Merar in was Nick distracted.

"He's upstairs." Nick said before McCall or the doctor could say a word. "Mother's with him." He then led the doctor to the room where Heath was lying, leaving Audra with only the silence in the living room to keep her company.

Because there was nothing to interrupt her thoughts, Audra started remembering the picnics, the games and the bed stories that had all come about because of her niece and nephew. The many conversations she'd had with Heath and the way he smiled; each and every memory that had been created over the past couple of months passed by her mind. "Oh Heath," she whispered softly, "Please, be all right and please, don't go." The seconds and minutes that passed by seem to drag on forever and ever. It seemed like an eternity before Victoria and Dr. Merar walked into the living room.

Audra jumped to her feet. "How is he?" she asked, a look of panic upon her face, afraid she'd hear the worst only hoping for the best.

"The bullet is out. As long as an infection doesn't set in, he'll be fine." Dr. Merar answered.

"May I see him?" Audra asked as the good doctor excused himself.

"As long as you don't try to get him to talk, he needs his rest." Dr. Merar said after thinking for a few minutes.

Because Audra feared receiving a lecture from her mother before she had a chance to see Heath, the young woman quickly disappeared up the stairs while Dr. Merar talked with Victoria. He was reminding her he'd be back the next day to check on the young man he now knew to be Tom's son; Victoria had confessed it to him before he'd started operating on Heath. She'd begged him to save him if he could.

Audra made her way to the room where Heath lay unconscious. Sitting down on a chair that she'd pulled away from the wall and over to the side of the bed, Audra picked up Heath's motionless hand and ran her fingers over it. "Oh, Heath," she held his hand up to her chin, "Please, be okay. Please, give this family a chance." She bowed her head and let her tears fall once more.

From where Nick stood in the hallway, he was thinking the same thing...even if his tears could only be seen in the faraway look in his eyes.


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

Was it day or was it night? Heath didn't know as he slipped in and out of consciousness. Since being brought back to the main house, the bullet in Heath's shoulder had been taken out, but an infection had set in. He'd fought a high fever for a number of days before it started to drop; still, he had a slight fever, was weak and drifting in and out of sleep.

Nick, who after having helped bury the men who had been involved in making trouble for the Barkleys and wired Jarrod, was now taking his turn watching this new brother of his. His past doubt and his false accusation against Heath, the one he'd thrown out at Heath just before the fight in the barn broke out, weighed heavily on his mind.

The sound of Heath's children carried through the slightly open door. Jarrod had gone to San Francisco and been shocked to find himself standing along the San Francisco Bay talking to a client only to see Mrs. Stokes and the children off in the distance. Of course, she had refused to bring the children entrusted to her care back until Heath sent for her, though she did let Jarrod know where they were staying. Later, when Jarrod received a telegram from Nick telling him what had happened, he'd went to the address Mrs. Stokes had given him and showed her of the telegram he had received from Nick. The good woman had quickly packed the children's things, along with her own, and followed Jarrod back to Stockton.

Nick couldn't help but smile as he recalled the moment Jarrod had driven the wagon though the front gate. Mrs. Stokes sat next to him; Bryon was sitting on the woman's lap while Leah sat in between Jarrod and "Grandma Stokes".

_Jarrod had no more stopped the wagon than Leah screamed and flew over his lap and into Nick's arms; he'd hurried and moved up to the wagon when he heard the child scream his name, knowing exactly what the child was going to do._

_ "How is papa?" Leah whispered in Nick's ears. She'd again had the luck, bad or good was questionable, of overhearing a portion of Jarrod and Mrs. Stokes' conversation. Now she spoke with pure fear, a fear that could be heard in her voice, Nick just had to do what he could to reassure her and to take the fear away from the child._

_ "He'll be fine. You'll see." Nick answered doing his best to sound positive; he just hoped he was right._

_ "Are you really my uncle?" Leah tilted her back and looked at "her cowboy". She'd heard Jarrod refer to her father as his brother and, even at her young age, knew what that meant. Though she hadn't said a word until Nick had her in his arms. While Nick didn't know about the conversation, he knew Jarrod and Mrs. Stokes didn't know Leah knew anything by the look of surprise that came upon their faces; he also noticed the apprehension in Jarrod's expression. He figured that was because Jarrod was unsure how Nick would react._

_ "Yes, I am. That is, if you want to claim me." Nick made himself smile at the young girl in his arms. Leah shouldn't be subjected to any consequences that came from his issues with his father's behavior. And, if Heath did indeed survive, which Nick hoped the man did, he'd just have to work on accepting him as well._

_ "My cowboy is my uncle! YIPEEE!" Leah let out a squeal of delight and threw up her arms. It made it so that he had to jerk and pull her to him, as it felt she was going to fall right out of his arms. He wondered too if she was competing to see which one of them was the loudest, though her words had a genuine smile replacing the forced one that had been on his face._

When the door, which was partially opened, widened even more, Nick stopped thinking about the past and turned his eyes and gave the small visitor, Leah, a gentle smile. "Does your grandma know you're up here?" Nick asked as he picked Leah up and put her on his lap. It was all he could not to roar with laughter as Leah looked at him puzzled and asked, "Which one?"

The fact that Mrs. Stokes wasn't really her grandmother was something Nick wasn't about to try to explain just yet. That being the case, he clarified things for the child. "My mother, Grandma Barkley."

"Nope," Leah answered. She went to say more only Heath, who had heard Leah's voice and finally realized he wasn't dreaming, opened his eyes in shock.

"Papa! You're awake!" Leah squealed and crawled off Nick's lap, making her way to her father's side. Nick made sure she was on Heath's uninjured side.

"How'd she get here?" Heath asked sharply as could, which for his weakened condition was still quite sharp, as his daughter lifted his arm and laid it over her shoulders; the child then curled up next to him. He was glaring at Nick as he asked the question.

Nick controlled himself for the sake of the child he adored and explained everything, though his voice did hold a tone of its own sharpness in it as he answered, "You've been running a bad fever on and off for the past week. While we all _hoped _you would pull through, none of us wanted your children to be without family, if the worst should happen." He would have bit the words off and threw them at this new brother, only he didn't want to upset Leah.

Heath kept his eyes on Nick. The fact that Nick and the others had actually been willing to take the children in and care for them in spite of the fact that he, their father, was a product of an affair brought on by Tom's unwillingness to be honest with Heath's mother stunned Heath beyond measure. "Thank you." He whispered. He might have said more only he slipped back into the grasp of sleep instead.

Not wanting to disturb the injured man's sleep, Nick explained to Leah that she needed to come with him and let her father sleep. While the child was reluctant to leave her father, she sat up and let Nick pick her up. By the time he walked out of the room, Leah had her head on Nick's shoulder, her arms wrapped around his neck and her legs around his waist as was her custom when he carried her.


	26. Chapter 26 and Epilogue

**Chapter Twenty-Six **

Heath opened his eyes and looked around. It took a moment for him to remember what had happened. When his eyes lit upon Nick, who stood with his back to the bed and his face to the window watching rain drops hit the window, the memory of having his daughter crawl onto the bed and Nick's words came back to him full force. With his fever now completely gone, Heath closed his eyes for a moment and thought on the fact that he'd told his half brother that he, Heath, would take his children and leave the ranch once the trouble was over. Could he really do that now? After all, they had not only tended to his wound in their own home, but they'd brought the children back and had them cared for as well. As he thought on it, Heath tried to sit up only to find pain shooting though his wounded shoulder. He let out an involuntary gasp and lay back down.

His gasp reached out and grabbed Nick, whirling the man around faster than the rain that was falling at that moment. "Hey," Nick hurried over to the side of the bed and looked down at Heath. "What do you think you're doing? You're not ready to get out of bed!" Nick snapped, but didn't yell, though that was hard for him not to do. After all, he was concerned the man would push it beyond his limits and injure himself worse. If that happened, not only would he and the family have another battle on their hands, but Leah was sure to give him, Nick, both barrels. The young child hadn't exactly been shy about saying what she thought about her father being hurt in the first place. For that matter, Byron might do the same. The normally quiet boy had succeeded in shocking everyone when he'd joined his sister in her tirade. Only the stern look and voice of Victoria Barkley had shut them up.

"So, my body tells me." Heath replied as he shut his eyes still feeling very tired. For a moment, neither brother said a word. Nick wondering if Heath still meant to take the children and leave, Heath thinking how his new found family had reacted after he'd been shot. It was still hard for him to accept the Barkleys had never once batted an eye when it came to taking care of him or his children. It all seemed too good to be true, only it was and everything in him was telling him so. He knew what he had to do. "Nick." Heath took as deep of a breath as he could and broke the silence, but kept his eyes shut.

"What?" Nick asked as he put one hand on the bed headboard and his other one his hip, half afraid of what he was going to hear.

Heath's crooked smile appeared on his face, though he kept his eyes closed as he said, "That swinging bridge, the one I used last week, it's not strong anymore. It's weakening. If we don't get that thing fixed and someone happens to be on it when it gives way; well, someone, maybe even one of us might wind up in the…" Heath, who had found himself fighting to stay awake, lost the battle to remain conscious. He was fast asleep before he finished his sentence.

"Guess I got to get used to having another brother around." Nick muttered as he grinned and he turned and left to tell the others Heath was going to be staying around.

**EPILOGUE**

"Stay with him, Heath!" Audra and Jarrod both yelled as they leaned against the corral fence and watched as their half brother worked on breaking in a horse. Neither Jarrod or Audra could hardly believe it had been a year since Heath had woke up for good and told the told the family he'd decided that he and his children would stay on the ranch, even if it meant fighting those who might not want to acknowledge his was a Barkley. That is, if the Barkleys would still willing to acknowledge Tom was his father. It was a statement that had gotten Nick riled, not that anyone had expected a reaction of another kind. The man's exact words were "Acknowledging you ain't the problem now, gettin' to know someone who is so tight lipped is! How can we get to do that, get to know ya, if you take your children and disappear?" Heath had stayed though he'd chosen to remain in the small home he and his children had been living in spite of the family's objection. "_We're too used to a home of our own. Maybe later," _had been his exact words. They had remained in that house for a solid ten months before Heath had consented to move into the main house.

It hadn't been easy at first. Some of the ranch hands turned on him once the truth came out. As time passed and the bond between the family and Heath grew, especially the bond between him and Nick, the trouble with the ranch hands had eventually stopped. Unfortunately, there was nothing the Barkleys could do about the town's people. While some of them had come around, others were still being as snobbish and ornery as ever.

Jarrod and Audra's thoughts were interrupted as Heath won the fight with the horse, dismounted and walked over. His brother and sister were going to congratulate him, but were stopped in the process as five and a half year old Leah came running out of the house yelling for her father; Nick was right behind her.

"Papa, Uncle Nick is going to town! May I go with him, please?" She reached through the corral fence and took a hold of her father's right hand.

Heath looked at Nick and his famous lopsided grin appeared. His stepmother had been right. Over the past year the bound that had formed between Nick and him was amazing. There were even times Nick found himself apologizing because he'd made a comment along the lines of 'remember when we…' only to remember Heath hadn't always been there. "Sure, go ahead." Heath chuckled as his daughter let go, turned around and ran to Nick, who was standing next to the wagon. His smile was just as big and his dimples were clearly showing.

"I wonder what she'll do the day Nick actually gets married." Audra couldn't help but laugh as she watched her middle brother help Leah up into the wagon and then climb aboard himself.

"I'd say the woman that marries Nick best love children." Jarrod eyes were laughing as his own smiled covered his face.

"Mama always told me blood was thicker than water." Heath gave his brother and sister one of his rare wide smiles. "I'd say his bride better just be able to accept that as fact and get used to the notion that Nick has an extra shadow."

When Audra and Jarrod started laughing, Heath joined in, leaving those who were standing where they could see the three Barkleys, but couldn't hear what was being said, to wonder what was so funny.


End file.
